OFFICIAL MEDICINAL PLANTS 



By William H. Brown 



INTRODUCTION 



In the Philippines, a great variety of plants furnish material 

 for medicine. Some of the substances are apparently of little or 

 no value, while others would seem to be useful. In a separate 

 section, Dr. Leon Maria Guerrero, of the Bureau of Science, has 

 given an account of the local medicinal uses of Philippine plants. 

 For this reason there are included in the following list only 

 such wild species as are official in twentieth-century pharmaco- 

 poeias, and one which contains a high percentage of berberine. 

 Most of such plants found in the Philippines are of little or 

 doubtful value, so no attempt has been made to discuss their 

 uses. Gathercoal * has recently prepared a list of botanical 

 drugs which are official in twentieth-century pharmacopoeias. 

 The species mentioned in the following discussion are taken 

 from his list, with the addition of the one containing berberine. 



Family CYATHEACEAE 

 Genus CIBOTIUM 

 CIBOTIUM BARAMETZ (Linn.) J. Sm. SALAGfSOG. 



Local name: Salagisog (Camarines). 



This plant is official in the Austrian Pharmacopoeia. The 

 long hairs are used in preparations for coagulating the blood 

 to arrest capillary hemorrhages. 



Cibotium barametz is a large fern. The lower parts of the 

 leaf stalks are covered with long golden-yellow hairs. 



This species is distributed in the mountains from Luzon to 

 Mindanao. 



Family PALMAE . 



Genus ARECA 

 ARECA CATECHU L. Bui?GA OR Betel nut Palm. 



A description of this species and its local names are given 

 in the section on palms. 



* Gathercoal, E. N., Pharmacopoeial botanic drugs of the twentieth 

 century. Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association for March, 

 April, and May, 1916. 



177674 5 "° 



