UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



m BULLETIN No. 1057 



<MkJS^fff£? Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry rjM tj^df f— 



S&P'&5L WM. A. TAYLOR. Chief j&F'&fri 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



April 24, 11922 



THE CHAULMOOGRA TREE AND SOME RELATED 

 SPECIES: A SURVEY CONDUCTED IN SIAM, 

 BURMA, ASSAM, AND BENGAL. 



By Joseph F. Rock, Agricultural Explorer, Office of Foreign Seed and Plant 



Introduction. 



With an Introductory Chapter by David Fairchild, Agricultural Explorer in Charge of 

 the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, and a Chapter on the Chemistry 

 of Chaulmoogra, Hydnocarpus, and Gynocardia Oils by Frederick B. Power, Chemist 

 in Charge of the Phytochemical Laboratory of the Bureau of Chemistry. 



CONTENTS. 



. Pago. 



Introduction 1 



History of chaulmoogra oil 3 



Chemistry of chaulmoogra, hydno- 

 carpus, and gynocardia oils 7 



Recent information on the chaulmoo- 

 gra tree and some related species- 10 



Hydnocarpus anthelminthica 10 



Hydnocarpus castanea 12 



Hydnocarpus curtisii 14 



Page. 



Recent information on the chaulmoo- 

 gra tree and some related species- 

 Continued. 



Taraktogenos kurzii 15 



Asteriastigma macrocarpa 22 



Gynocardia odorata 23 



Conclusions 24 



Recommendations 26 



Literature cited 28 



INTRODUCTION. 



By David Fairchild, Agricultural Explorer in Charge of the Office of Foreign 

 Seed and Plant Introduction. 



Although chaulmoogra oil has been in use for hundreds of years 

 by the natives of India in the treatment of leprosy, it is only re- 

 cently that a general public interest has been aroused in it. This is 

 due to the successful treatment of the disease with certain con- 

 stituents of the oil by Drs. Hollmann, Dean, and McDonald, in the 

 Hawaiian Islands. (J J, J5, JO). 1 



Whereas the East Indians used the crude oil expressed from the 

 is as a local application and also internally, the above-mentioned 



1 Th.' serial nnmbert (italic) in parentheses refer to "Literature cited" al the end of 



tllla bulletin. 



88 l '10-22 1 



