Uses.--All parts of the plant contain a thick, yellow, milky juice
which constitutes the gamboge. In Malabar, Ceylon, Canara and Singapore
the following method of extraction is followed: At the beginning of the
rainy season a spiral incision is made around the bark of about half
the tree trunk, and a piece of bamboo is fixed in place to collect
the juice which slowly exudes from the cut for several months, soon
becoming viscid and then solid after contact with the air. One tree,
as a rule, yields enough sap to fill three internodal segments of
bamboo, each 50 cm. long by 3-5 cm. in diameter.
Gamboge is a laxative in doses of 10-15 cgm., produces abundant
evacuations with violent colicky pains in doses of 30-50 cgm., and
is an irritant poison in large doses. In other words it is a highly
energetic hydragogue cathartic, especially indicated when we wish
to drain off the fluid element of the blood, as in dropsy, asthma,
pulmonary and cerebral congestion. It is also used as a vermifuge.
It is rarely given alone, but is combined with calomel, aloes, jalap,
rhubarb, etc.
It is official in all pharmacopoeias.
Botanical Description.--A tree 10-20 meters high, with leaves opposite,
elliptical, lanceolate, narrowed at both extremities, acuminate,
entire, coriaceous, glabrous, 10-12 cm. long by 3-4 cm. broad, with
short petioles. Flowers dioecious. Male flower axillary, solitary or in
groups of 3-6, pedunculate with small bracts. Calyx, 4 sepals. Corolla,
4 petals, orbicular, thick, fleshy. Stamens 30-40, sessile, adherent
at the base. Anthers unilocular. Female flower sessile, solitary,
axillary, larger than the male; calyx and corolla equal; staminodia
20-30, jointed at the base, forming a membranous corolla from the
upper edge of which spring a few short filaments which support each
a suboval sterile anther. The ovary is superior and almost spherical,
with 4 cells each containing 1 ovule. The fruit, almost spherical, is
2 1/2 cm. in diameter, corticate, bearing at its base the persistent
calyx; each of its 4 cells contains a seed.
_Ochrocarpus pentapetalous_, Blanco. (_Tovomita pentapetala_, Blanco.)
Nom. Vulg.--_Namakpakan_, _Tagudin_, Iloc. (?).
Uses.--An oil expressed from the fruit is used in Ilocos for
illuminating purposes. The flowers are astringent and are used in
infusion in cases of diarrhoea. The oil of the fruit is also used
locally in rheumatism, tumefactions and other painful conditions. In
some countries of Malaysia the oil is used in the same way especially
in beriberi and the periarticular inflammations incident to puerperium.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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