PLUMBAGO ZEYLANICA 155 



flowers, with corolla very long, funnel-form, 5-toothed. 

 Style longer than the stamens. Stigma bifid. Seed large, 

 lacking pappus. 



Habitat. — Cultivated in the gardens. 





PLUMBAGINEJE. 



Leadwort Family. 

 Plumbago Zeylanica, L. (P. viscosa, Blanco.) 



Nom. Vulg. — Sagdikit, Tag.; Bagbag, TalanJcaw, Hoc; 

 White-flowered Leadwort, Eng. 



Uses. — The root is vesicant and is used by the natives for 

 this purpose. (P. rosea, L., common in India, is more power- 

 ful. The Pharmacopoeia of India states that both species are 

 worthy of further investigation.) According to the Sanscrit 

 authors it increases the appetite and is useful in dyspepsia, 

 piles, dropsy, diarrhoea and skin diseases. The Filipinos use 

 the infusion locally for itch with good results. A favorite 

 medicine of the Hindoos for flatulence is the old recipe of 

 Susrutas, composed of equal parts of the following substances 

 in powder : 



Leadwort root, root of Cismmpelos Pareira, Pierorrhiza hur- 

 roa, 1 Aeonitum heterophyllum, 1 and Terminalia Chebula in dose 

 of 4 grams a day. 



Dr. Oswald has employed the alcoholic tincture of leadwort 

 in the intermittents, with satisfactory results, and claims that 

 it is a powerful diaphoretic. 2 The mashed root is mixed with 

 rice flour and made into a caustic paste to apply to buboes, 

 destroy warts, etc. Women also use the scraped root to induce 

 abortion, introducing it through the vagina into the os uteri. 

 This practice should be strongly condemned on account of its 

 dangerous consequences — metritis, peritonitis and often death. 



1 Do not grow in the Philippines. 



2 Waring, loc. cit., p. 170. 



