Nom. Vulg.—Kalantas, Tag., Pam.; Lanigpa, Vis.
Uses.—The infusion of the flowers is antispasmodic. The trunk bark is an excellent astringent, and Dr. Waitz recommends it in extract as a treatment for infantile diarrhœa, for which I also have found it very useful. Blume says that it contains marked antispasmodic virtues, and Dr. G. Kennedy confirms it. Other physicians of India, among them Ros and Newton, have recommended the bark as a substitute for cinchona, given dry in doses of 30 grams.
Infusion.—
| Bark dry, pounded | 30 grams. |
| Water | 150 grams. |
| Filter and add: | |
| Syrup of cinnamon | 20 grams. |
Dose.—Several dessert-spoonfuls a day.
The powdered bark is very useful as an application to indolent ulcers which it instantly deodorizes; like powdered quinine it is used in the treatment of superficial gangrene.
Botanical Description.—A large tree. Leaves odd-pinnate. Leaflets oval, lanceolate, acuminate, entire, glabrous, 5–6 pairs. Flowers yellow, in terminal panicles. Calyx 5-toothed. Corolla, 5 oblong petals. Stamens 5, free, inserted on the apex of a disk. Ovaries sessile, 5 many-ovuled cells. Style short. Stigma on a disk. Seed vessel coriaceous, 5 compartments, septicidal, 5-valved. Seeds compressed, pendulous, prolonged in a membranous wing.
Habitat.—Very common in the islands.
Celastraceæ.
Staff-Tree Family.