A Revision of the Genus Alstonia (Apocynaceae) 1 
Joseph Monachino 
INTRODUCTION 
The GENUS Alstonia was proposed in a paper 
by Robert Brown read before the Wernerian 
Natural History Society in 1809 and published 
in 1811. It was named in honor of Charles 
Alston, Scottish physician and professor of 
botany at the University of Edinburgh. Four 
species were referred to this genus by Brown, 
namely, A. scholaris, A. venenata , A. cost at a, 
and A. spectabilis. Each of these is the type 
species of a section of Alstonia; therefore all 
the sections recognized in the present treatment, 
except § Winchia, were represented at that 
early date. To that great naturalist is to be 
given not only the credit for erecting the 
foundations for the genus, but also for having 
a marvelous perspicacity in recognizing a gen- 
eric tie between such diverse elements as those 
known to him. 
Five sections of Alstonia, 39 species, and 12 
varieties are treated in the systematic section 
of the present paper. The scope and problems 
in the treatment are discussed before the tax- 
onomy is elaborated. 
The type of the genus is A. scholaris, and this 
species is in many respects the most important 
one in Alstonia. The specific epithet was de- 
rived from lignum scholare, a name applied to 
the plant because of the use of its wood for 
making writing tablets employed in schools. 
Reference to this was made in 1741 by Rum- 
phius, who also noted other uses for the 
species. 
1 This study is made possible by the financial sup- 
port of the Chicle Development Company. Manu- 
script received November 15, 1947. 
The bark of A. scholaris has been reported 
to be the source of one of the most widely 
known and important of the popular drugs in 
the Philippines, and the product is very highly 
esteemed in the popular medicine of India, 
where it has found a place as a standard drug 
in the pharmacopoeia. It has been credited 
with the properties of being an astringent tonic, 
anthelmintic, alterative, antiperiodic, etc., use- 
ful in various febrile conditions as well as in 
chronic diarrhea and dysentery. A poultice 
made from the leaves of A. scholaris has been 
reported as used for skin disease in India, and 
the sap of some Fijian species as used by the 
natives for eye trouble. Examples of reports of 
various additional uses of Alstonia species fol- 
low: the Bakweli administer latex of A. 
Boonei to women to increase lactation and en- 
rich their milk while suckling young; latex of 
A. angustiloba is used with copper sulfate for 
yaws, and that of A. scholaris is mixed with 
oil and used to treat earache; the leaf, root, 
and bark of A. congensis [or A. Boonei ] are 
used externally in treating rheumatic pains. 
In more modern times, the bark of A. 
scholaris has been regarded as a remedy of 
considerable promise in debility after fevers 
and other exhausting diseases. Rakshit (1944) 
wrote that the total alkaloids obtained by his 
method of extraction possessed definite anti- 
malarial constituents. This investigator sug- 
gested that the negative tests obtained by 
others were the result of inadequate methods 
of extraction which did not dissolve out the 
proper alkaloids. 
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