Nom. Vulg.--_Anis estrellado_, _Badiana_, Sp.; _Sangki_, Tag.; _Star
Anise_, Eng.
Uses.--Although this plant does not grow in the Philippines, the
use of its fruit is so common there that it demands a place in this
work. It is employed chiefly as a condiment in the preparation of food,
and its essential oil is used to prepare the native "anise cordial"
by mixing it with alcohol obtained from the palm or from sugar cane.
The decoction of the fruit is given after meals as a tea-like beverage,
to aid digestion or for its carminative effect in flatulent colic.
Star anise has an aromatic taste, slightly bitter and acrid, and
a very marked perfume of anise which with its star-like form gives
the plant one of its names. It is a very useful stimulant, tonic,
stomachic and carminative.
It is official in all Pharmacopoeias and the pericarp is the part
employed.
The dose is from 1 to 2 grams to 100 of water in infusion, to be
taken in one draught.
According to Schlegel it contains the following substances: An
essential oil 4.675; a green waxy material which melts at 51°, a resin,
a gum and saponin. The essential oil is (almost) identical with that
of anise from which it is impossible to distinguish it chemically. The
only difference is that the former has a blander odor and solidifies
at 1°.25 instead of 10°, as does the oil of anise.
Botanical Description.--The plant grows in the mountains of Yunnan,
China, and in Tonquin. The part used in the Philippines is the fruit,
being indeed the only part known here. This is composed of 8 woody
follicles arranged about a central column in the form of a star. These
follicles open at maturity and reveal the seeds, which are shining,
smooth, ovoid, hard, of a pretty chestnut-red color. In the Philippines
they are sold even in the smallest food-vending shops.
_Michelia Champaca, L._
Nom. Vulg.--_Tsampaka_, _Sampaka_, Tag.; _Champaca_, Fil.-Span.
Uses.--The bark of the trunk is well known as a febrifuge
and emmenagogue in India. It is slightly bitter and
aromatic. Dr. H. Folliat has used it with success in the Island
of Mauritius in the treatment of the common intermittent fevers;
he administered the infusion (bark 30 grams, water 600 cc.)--or the
decoction (bark 30 grams, water 1,200 cc.); boil till reduced to
600 cc.--giving a wine-glassful every hour just before and after
the paroxysm.
An astringent decoction made from the leaves is used as a gargle in
sore throat. The root is emmenagogue and the seeds are used in the
treatment of anal fissure.
Dr. Hooper has found the following substances in the bark of the
_Champana_: a volatile oil with a pine-like odor; a fixed oil,
insoluble in alcohol, melting at 15° and forming soap with soda;
a resin extremely bitter, acrid, brown in color; tannin; sugar;
a bitter principle, albuminoids, coloring matters, mucilage and starch.
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