ARISTOLOCHIA INPICA 203 



Rilliet and Barthez recommend the following potion for in- 

 fantile chorea : 



Leaves of chenopodium 4 grams. 



Water 500 " 



Make an infusion and add syrup of orange flowers 50 grams. 

 Dose, several tablespoonfuls a day. 



BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION. A plant 2 high; stem beset 

 with hairs, many-angled. Leaves lanceolate, varying from en- 

 tire to cut-pinnatifid. Flowers green, sessile, axillary, in small 

 clusters. Calyx 5-parted. Corolla wanting. Stamens 5. 

 Filaments flattened, inserted near the center of the flowers op- 

 posite the parts of the calyx. Anthers in 2 globose parts. 

 Ovary superior, globose, depressed, unilocular, uniovulate. 

 Style none. Stigmas, 2, 3 or 4, short, divergent. Fruit a 

 lenticular seed covered by the membrane of the ovary. 



HABITAT. Common in gardens and fields. Blooms in May. 



ARISTOLOCHIACEJE. 



Birth-wort Family. 

 Aristolochia Indica, L. 



NOM. VULG. Timbagan, Malaubi, Tag.; Indian Birthwort, 

 Eng. 



USES. The root has a wide use in medicine in the Philip- 

 pines ; it is bitter, of a nauseating odor and has the reputation 

 of being a powerful antidote for the bites of poisonous serpents 

 and insects. It has further use in the treatment of malarial 

 fever, in dyspepsia, and in the flatulent colic of teething chil- 

 dren. It is regarded as tonic and emmenagogue. In various 

 forms of diarrhea it appears to be effective and Dr. Gibson 

 states that it is useful in intestinal disorders. In the Philip- 

 pines it is not only given internally but also externally applied 

 over the abdomen, mixed with hot cocoanut oil (10 grams of 

 the powdered root to 100 oil). 



