NERIUM ODORUM 165 



a resin, Echicauchina (C 25 H 40 O 2 ), the other neutral, Echiretin 

 (C 3f) H 56 O 2 ) ; two crystal! izable principles, dextrogyrous : Echi- 

 cerin (C 3() H 48 O 2 ), Echitein (C 42 H 70 O 2 ) and Echitin (C 32 H 52 O 2 ). 



Ditaine is employed under the same circumstances and in the 

 same dose as quinine. (The Hindoo writer, K. L. Dey, states 

 that the plant yields an inferior quality of gutta-percha.) 



BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION. A tree, 50 or more feet high, the 

 trunk covered with small eminences resembling the scars of 

 thorns. Branches radiating. Leaves radiating, 5, 6 or more, 

 somewhat elliptical in form, pointed at the apex. Petioles very 

 short, with a pointed glandule on the inner surface of the base. 

 Flowers white, terminal, in umbellate racemes. Calyx very 

 short, 5-toothed. Corolla twisted, tubular, the limb 5-lobuled ; 

 throat open, encircled with down. Stamens 5, hidden within 

 the throat and inserted on the tube. Filaments almost want- 

 ing. Anthers arrow-shaped. Style as long as the stamens, 

 somewhat flattened, a scarcely visible line throughout its length. 

 Stigma bifid, placed above a cylindrical zone, two follicles, 1 

 long and V thick, twisted like a string, containing the seeds in 

 a row. Seeds cylindrical with a hairy awn at both ends. 



HABITAT. In the forests of Luzon, especially in Batangas. 

 Blooms in April. 



Nerium odorum, Aiton. (N. oleander, L. and Blanco.) 



NOM. YULG. Add/a, Sp.; Baladri, Tag.; Sweet-scented Ole- 

 ander, Eng. 



USES. In the Philippines and in Spain this plant is well 

 known to be poisonous. The bark and the leaves of both the 

 red-flowered and white-flowered varieties are boiled in cocoanut 

 oil and the product is used for inunction in itch and other skin 

 diseases. The bruised root is a useful application for chancroids. 



We have stated that the plant is poisonous, and indeed it is 

 actively so in the tropics. It is now recognized as an energetic 

 cardiac poison, comparable with strophauthus, destined to play 



