456 MEDIC AL BOTANY. 



Calotropis. — Brown. 



Calyx 5-parted. Corolla subcampanulate, tube angular, limb deeply 5-cleft. Stamineal 

 crown 5-leaved, lobes linear-oblong, sub-compressed, keel-like, vertically adnate to the 

 gynsecium ; below free, recurved, and involute. Pollen masses sickle-shaped, compressed, 

 transverse, connected by their slender apex. Stigma five-angled, depressed. Follicles 

 ventricose, smooth, base and apex umbilicate. Seeds comose. 



A small genus, formed from some species of Asclepias, consisting of 

 shrubby African, and Asiatic plants, with a corky bark, broad leaves, gland- 

 ular petioles, and large, handsome flowers. 



C. gigantea, Br oiou. — Leaves opposite, nearly sessile, acute, entire, somewhat cordate 

 at base. Segments of corolla spreading, or reflexed.. 



Brown, Tr. Wern. Soc. i. 29 ; Hamilton, Tr. Linn. Soc. xiv.. 248 ; Ains- 

 lie, Mat. Ind. i. 486. 



Common Names. — Mudar; Madar, &c. 



The Mudar, as this plant is called, is a native of various parts of the East 

 Indies, and is naturalized in the West Indies ; it is noticed by Browne as com- 

 mon in Jamajca, where it is known as the French Jasmin.' 1 have also met 

 with it in abundance in St. Croix. The part used in medicine is the root ; this 

 is fusiform, branched, of a pale fawn-colour externally, covered with a brown- 

 ish powder, which adheres to the fingers, and wrinkled longitudinally; within 

 it is whitish; it has little or -no odour, but a bitter, and somewhat nauseous 

 taste. It is prepared by digging up the roots in the spring, washing them, and 

 drying them in the open air until the milky juice is inspissated ; the epidermis is 

 then scraped off, and the cortical portion kept for use in well-closed bottles. 

 The powder is pale fawn-colour. It has been analyzed by Cassanova, and 

 found to contain an Extractive substance (Madarine), soluble both in alcohol 

 and water, an almost insoluble Resin, Gum, Starch, Albumen, and a little 

 Fixed oil, &c. » 



Medical Properties. — It is purgative, alterative, and diaphoretic, and is 

 spoken of by a number of eminent practitioners as eminently successful in 

 the obstinate cutaneous affections so common in tropical climates. Robinson 

 praises it highly in elephantiasis and lepra [Med. Chir. Trans, x. 31); and 

 Playfair states, that he has found it of the greatest utility in lepra, hectic fever, 

 rheumatism, &c. (Trans, Med. and Phys. Soc. Calcutta, i. 77). He gave it 

 in doses of grs. iij. — xij., three times a day. Cassanova, who experimented 

 largely with it, confirms these statements; he says that its action is more 

 particularly directed to the skin, increasing the action of the capillaries and 

 absorbents of that tissue (Essai sur le Madar). When combined with 

 opium it acts as a diaphoretic, and in .small doses is expectorant and tonic, 

 whilst in large ones it causes emesis. Dr. Duncan, who made many trials 

 of it, states that he is satisfied that in every respect its action is so similar to 

 that of ipecacuanha that it may always be substituted for it. He was not 

 successful with it in elephantiasis, but found it beneficial in psoriasis and 

 lepra (Edin. Med. and Surg. Jour, xxxii. 62). 



Dr. A. T. Thomson is of opinion that in some of its alterative effects it 

 resembles mercury, and that it is most useful in low conditions of the system, 

 and also, that during its administration, the diet should be mild and vegetable 

 (Elem. Mat. Med. ii. 492). Ainslie, from his own observations in India, pre- 

 fers the dried, milky juice to the root, and if the principle described by Dun- 

 can and Cassanova be the'active ingredient, this opinion is probably correct. 

 The dose of the powder is from three grains to thirty, in which latter quantity 





