Both are called malakatmón, and are employed indiscriminately to accomplish the same results. The silicious concretion obtained from the leaves is used as a polish in the form of polish paper.
Dose.—In infusion for internal use, 4 grams of wood to 1 liter of water; as a gargle, 10 to 15 grams to the liter.
Botanical Description.—A shrub with leaves alternate, oval, serrate, finely dentate with very short and stiff hairs. Flowers of a strong, rather agreeable odor, axillary, in panicles. Calyx, 4 sepals. Corolla, 4 petals. Stamens indefinite, expanding at the upper end and bearing 2 anthers. Carpels 3, with ovules indefinite in two series. Seeds with red arils.
Habitat.—In the vicinity of Manila. Blooms in July.
Magnoliaceæ
Magnolia Family.
Illicium anisatum, L.
Nom. Vulg.—Anis estrellado, Badiana, Sp.; Sag̃ki, Tag.; Star Anise, Eng.
Uses.—Although this plant does not grow in the Philippines, the use of its fruit is so common there that it demands a place in this work. It is employed chiefly as a condiment in the preparation of food, and its essential oil is used to prepare the native “anise cordial” by mixing it with alcohol obtained from the palm or from sugar cane.
The decoction of the fruit is given after meals as a tea-like beverage, to aid digestion or for its carminative effect in flatulent colic.