Uses.--The seed is the part of the plant employed and is official in
the Pharmacopoeia of India. It is used as a tonic and antiperiodic
in intermittent fevers and in general where tonic treatment is
indicated. It has given good results in the malarial fevers of India,
according to English physicians. The Pharmacopoeia of India contains
the following preparation under the name of "Compound Powder of Bonduc"
(Pulvis bonducellæ compositus).
Seeds of Bonduc, powdered 30 grams.
Pepper 30 grams.
Mix and keep in a well-corked flask.
Dose.--1-2 grams 3 times a day.
In the Philippines the powdered seed is given in affections of the
digestive tract, especially in diarrhoea and feeble digestion. The same
name of Bonduc is given to the seeds of another species that grows in
the Philippines, _C. Bonduc_, Roxb.; _Kamot-Kabag_, _Bayan-Kambing_,
Tag. The seeds are identical in chemical composition and therapeutic
indication.
The two principal substances contained in the seeds are an oil, 24%
and a resin, 1.88%. The former is straw-colored and slightly bitter
by virtue of the presence of a resin that may be precipitated by
alcohol. The resin or bitter principle exists as an amorphous powder,
white, bitter, not acrid, soluble in chloroform, alcohol, acetone,
crystallizable acetic acid, fixed and essential oils; slightly soluble
in ether and bisulphide of carbon, insoluble in water and petroleum
ether. The alkalies do not affect it. It melts at 140°, decomposing and
leaving only a carbon. Its discoverers, Heckel and Schlagdenhauffen,
have given it the name _bonducin_ (C_14_H_15_O_5_). Hydrochloric acid
colors it red; sulphuric acid, a maranthin red in half an hour.
Bonducin seems to be the active principle of the seeds and is given
internally in doses of 10-20 centigrams; according to Dr. Isnard,
of Marseilles, this dose has given as good results in fevers as the
same quantity of quinine.
Botanical Description.--A shrub with prostrate stem bristling with
thorns. Leaves twice abruptly pinnate, a thorn taking the place
of the terminal leaflet. Leaflets in 10-14 pairs, ovate, expanded,
with a spine at the apex. Common petioles thorny, with 4 leaf-like
stipules at the base. Flowers yellow, in racemes. Calyx 5-parted,
curved downward. Corolla inserted on the calyx, 5 petals, 4 nearly
equal, the uppermost broader and shorter. Stamens 10. Filaments
very unequal in height, inserted on the calyx, united and woolly
at the base. Pistil very short. Stigma thick. Pod rhomboidal before
maturity, prickly, containing 2 semi-globose seeds with testa hard,
mottled and tough.
The other species, _C. Bonduc_, Roxb., is distinguished by leaflets
unequal at the base, by the absence of stipules, and by the bright
orange yellow seeds.
Habitat.--Common in Luzon, Panay and Joló. Blooms in December.
_Cæsalpinia Sappan_, L.
Nom. Vulg.--_Sibukao_, _Sapag_, Tag.; _Palo del Brasil_, Sp.; _Sappan
Wood_, Eng.
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