MEDICINAL USES OF PHILIPPINE PLANTS 



By Leon Maria Guerrero * 

 INTRODUCTION 



These notes are the result of several years of investigation 

 into the use made by the natives, for medicinal purposes, of 

 certain plants belonging to the rich Philippine flora, as well 

 as of those of other, foreign species introduced into this country 

 in a prehistoric period and since. 



The list of such plants seems unnecessarily long; neverthe- 

 less, it does not include all of the species in the list of Philippine 

 medicinal plants. Many already recorded have been purposely 

 omitted, as their inclusion here would occupy too much space. 

 Though it is a long one, it covers only investigations conducted 

 among the Christianized natives, segregated in towns or villages, 

 who have for some time enjoyed the advantages of modern 

 civilization and culture. Similar investigations will be carried 

 on later among the scattered tribes living in the forested moun- 

 tains in various regions of the Archipelago. 



The Philippine flora comprises not only an astonishingly 

 large number of timber and other useful species, but also a no 

 less astonishing wealth of medicinal plants, the great thera- 

 peutic possibilities of which will become apparent once empiri- 

 cism gives way to the practice of scientific pharmacology. This 

 subject has scarcely been touched, so far as native drugs are 

 concerned, notwithstanding the reasonable demand that our 

 native products be utilized in preference to those of other coun- 

 tries which frequently are no better than those of our own land. 



To prepare a genuinely Philippine Pharmacopoeia is not a 

 simple task, for it involves a thorough chemical and pharmacody- 

 namic study of the most important drugs already known to 

 medical practitioners. Not only this, but careful selection must 

 be made from among those tested in order that the formulas 

 shall not contain several drugs that possess the same or similar 

 curative virtues, and that the proposed Philippine code shall 

 include such foreign drugs for which no equivalents have yet 

 been found here. 



* From the Botanical Section of the Biological Laboratory; Bureau of 

 Science, Manila. 



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