Infusion of the Flowers.—
| Flowers of the caballero, dry | 20 grams. |
| Water | 500 grams. |
| Sugar | 70 grams. |
Mix. Dose, a wineglassful several times a day.
Botanical Description.—A shrub, with prickly trunk. Leaves twice abruptly pinnate. Leaflets 5–8 pairs, glabrous, ovate and elliptical, bearing a spine at the extremity, 3 stipules to each pair of leaflets. Flowers yellow and red, in racemes on the ends of the branches. Calyx divided almost to the base, with 5 concave parts. Corolla, 5 petals 1′ long with short claws, one petal very small and straight, the others larger, with wavy edges. Stamens 10, crimson, 3′ long, free, woolly, united at the lower end. Pistil the same length as the stamens. Stigma somewhat concave. Ovary sessile, unilocular, many-ovuled. Pod compressed, with 7 or more seeds inserted on the superior suture and separated from each other by fleshy divisions.
Habitat.—Very common in gardens where it is cultivated for its beautiful flowers. Blooms throughout the entire year.
Cassia fistula, L.
Nom. Vulg.—Cañafistula, Sp.; Lombayog̃, Ibabaw, Baloyog̃, Vis.; Purging Cassia, Eng.
Uses.—The pod known in pharmacy under the name of “Cañafistula” contains a blackish, sweet pulp, which is a mild purgative if combined with carminatives, but it produces severe colic if given alone. The urine sometimes takes on a dark color after taking it. The laxative dose is 4–8 grams, the purgative 30–60.
Extract of Cassia.—
| Pulp and seeds of ripe pods | 1 kilo. |
| Water | 1 liter. |