﻿444 RICHMOND AND VIYENCIO DEL ROSARIO. 



Calophyllum inophyllum (Palo maria).'' — A large, hardwood tree be- 

 longing to the family (luUifenv, found along the sea shores throughout 

 the tropics of both hemispheres. In the Philippines it is known as 

 pain nutria do la playa t<> distinguish it from Calophyllum wallichianwn , 

 the widely distributed form found in upland forests known as palo 

 nutria del monte. It has a beautiful, dark green, thick, fine-nerved leaf, 

 4 to 5 inches long, from whence is derived the name Calophyllum, or 

 Schonblatt. The fruit is the size of a walnut, with a fleshy rim contain- 

 ing a thin-shelled seed which incloses a hard, oily kernel. The fruit 

 of the mountain variety is only two-thirds to three-fourths the size of 

 that growing near the seashore. Each tree yields several bushels of nuts 

 per year. There is no established industry, although in some localities 

 the oil is expressed and used for lights. 



Oil from the expressed seeds of Calophyllum inophyllum is called 

 domba, and in Indo-English, improperly, laurel-nut oil. The kernels 

 on extraction yield 70 to 75 per cent of a greenish-yellow oil. The oil is 

 not servicable as an edible fat, since it contains a poisonous resin to which 

 the color and odor are due. On the other hand, it finds application as 

 a natural remedy in skin diseases and rheumatism, and it is used for that 

 purpose in many districts of India ; it is exported in considerable amounts 

 from Travancore, particularly from Burma, and. under the name of 

 "udilobl" it has been experimentated with in Europe for some time in the 

 treatment of rheumatism. 



"The seeds of Calophyllum inophyllum? a forest tree widely distributed in 

 the eastern tropics, furnish an oil known by various names ( dilo, domba, pinnay, 

 poon seed or tamanu oil ) ; when mixed with pigments, this forms a paint that 

 dries in twelve hours, without any previous boiling. Owing to the large yield 

 of oil and the plenti fulness of the trees in India, Ceylon, the Malay Archipelago 

 and Java, and the South Pacific islands, etc., this oil appears likely to be an 

 important article in the future." 



"Domba oil ° is obtained from the nuts of Calophyllum inophyllum. It is 

 chiefly used as an embrocation for rheumatism, and for illuminating purposes. 

 Domba oil is sold in Burma at four times the Calcutta price of castor oil, which it 

 resembles." G. Fenler 10 has made a chemical examination of the oil from 

 Calophyllum inophyllum. He describes it as greenish-yellow in color, of a bitter, 

 pungent taste, soluble in all proportions in the usual solvents, but insoluble in 

 absolute alcohol. The following values are recorded: 



Specific gravity at 15° C. 0.942 



Reichert Meissel number .13 



Acid value 28.45 



Saponification value 196 



Iodine value 92.8 



7 Tavern : Medicinal Plants of the Philippines, Manila (1901), 38. 



8 Alder Wright, C. R.: Fixed oils, fats, butters and waxes (1903), 348. 

 '■'./. Soc. Chem. hid. (1901), 20, 024. 



""('hem. Ztschr. (1905). 29, 15. 



