TYLOPHORA ASTHMATICA 169 



monopetalous, 5 acute lobes, white, of rare and beautiful form. 

 Nectaries 5, united throughout their length with the receptacle, 

 their bases curved like the sides of the fleur de lis. 



Above the nectaries is a 5-angled crown, the extremity of 

 the receptacle ; in each angle a black anther. Two large folli- 

 cles narrowed at the ends, woolly, the apex somewhat curved 

 to one side, containing many imbricated seeds, each with a tuft 

 of long hairs. 



HABITAT. Bauang, Taal and the volcanic island of Taal. 

 Blossoms in April. 



Tylophora asthmatica, Wight, (Asdepias asthmatica, Roxb.) 



NOM. VULG. (?) 



USES. We are ignorant of the uses the Filipinos make of 

 this plant. It is official in the Pharmacopoeia of India, the dry 

 powdered leaf being the part employed, and its emetic, dia- 

 phoretic and expectorant properties are well known in that 

 country. Roxburgh has used the root as an emetic and Ander- 

 son has employed it in the same manner as ipecac in dysentery. 

 Later the experience of Anderson was confirmed by O'Shaugh- 

 nessy ; though in place of the root he used the leaf, the prop- 

 erties of which he regards as more certain and uniform. 



Dr. J. Kirkpatrick has noted that the juice of the root and 

 its powder are used by the natives of Mysore as an emetic, 

 and adds that he himself has used it for that purpose in a 

 thousand cases with good results. In its effect on dysentery 

 as well as in its emetic effect it resembles ipecacuanha. He 

 used the powder in doses of 1.20-1.80 gr., to which he 

 added 3-6 centigrams of tartar emetic when lie desired to 

 obtain an energetic emetic action. Like O'Shaughnessy he 

 prefers the powdered leaves. He considers it a good sub- 

 stitute for ipecac, not only as an emetic, but as a remedy in 

 asthma, dysentery and catarrhal affections ; Drs. Oswald and 

 Mooden Sheriff have made the same observations. The latter 



