112 THE MEDICINAL PLANTS OF THE PHILIPPINES 



Some of the leaves bear horn-shaped galls, flattened, narrow 

 and hollow. They are caused by an insect which stings the 

 leaves and deposits its eggs in them. These leaves with galls 

 are astringent and very useful and effective in dysentery and 

 diarrhrea, especially that of children. The dose for a child of 

 more than one year is 0.40 to 0.50 gram a day, administered 

 in fractional doses every two or three hours. 



Fridolin has obtained from its fruit an acid, which he calls 

 chebulinic (C 28 H 25 O 10 ) and presumes to be a mixture of tannic 

 and gallic acids. As Stenhouse had formerly indicated, no 

 principle has been discovered to which the purgative properties 

 can be attributed, unless it be a green oleo-resin turned red by 

 nitric acid, obtained from the fruit by Apery. 



BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION. A tree of the second order, with 

 leaves 3 r long, alternate, lanceolate, entire and glabrous. Peti- 

 oles short. Flowers terminal, in spiked panicles. Calyx supe- 

 rior, bell-shaped, colored, downy within, 5-toothed. Corolla 

 wanting. Stamens 10, longer than the calyx. Anthers round- 

 ish. Ovary cylindrical. Style curved and longer than the 

 stamens. Stigma simple. Fruit ovoid, 2-4 centimeters long, 

 5-10 acute angles, wrinkled, with blackish, hard, compact meso- 

 carp ; contains 1 seed. 



HABITAT. Batangas, San Mateo. Blooms in May. 



Quisqualis Indica, L. (Q. villosa, Roxb.; Q. spinosa, Nares.) 



NOM. YULG. TagaraWj Niogniogan, Tag.; Tangolon, Vis.; 

 Babebabe, Pam.; Tartaraw, Hoc. 



USES. The fruit contains a kernel that tastes much like 

 cacao, for which reason the Tagalogs call it " niogniogan " (like 

 cacao). This kernel is a powerful anthelmintic, used also in 

 India, the dose for a child of 4 years being 2-4, pulverized 

 and mixed with a little molasses or sugar. A large dose pro- 

 duces hiccough, a fact well known to the natives. Dr. Bouton 



