Botany
Smooth tree growing 6-20 meters. Branches are lenticellate. Bark is dark greyish, odorless and bitter, with an abundant bitter and milky sap. Leaves are in whorls, 3-8 in a whorl, narrowly obovate to spatulate, 10-20 cm long, 3-4.5 cm wide, pointed at the base, rounded at the apex, glossy on the upper surface, gray on the underside. Flowers are crowded, numerous, greenish-white, 1 cm long, in compact, hairy cymes about 10 cm long. Fruits are pendulous and cylindric follicles, 20-30 cm long, 4-5 mm diameter, with seeds 3-4 mm long.

Distribution
Found in most islands and provinces, in primary and secondary forests, at low and medium altitudes.

Constituents
From the bark are the alkaloids: Ditamine, 0.02 - 0.04%, echitenine, echitamine, 0.13%.
Bitter principle: Ditamin (uncrystallizable bitter substance), 2.0%.

Parts used and preparation
Bark, leaves.

Folkloric uses:
At one time, widely used as a remedy for fevers, chronic diarrhea, dysentery.
The alkaloid from the bark used to be a hospital alternative to quinine.
For boils: Apply milky latex as poultice over affected area.
Chronic diarrhea, fever: 1% decoction of bark as tea.
Malaria: 5% decoction of bark as tea.
Milky juice, mixed with oil, used as drops for earaches.
Tincture of the bark occasionally used as galactagogue.
Decoction of the bark used as tonic, febrifuge, emmenagogue, anticholeric and vulnerary.
Decoction of leaves used for beriberi.
Poultice of young leaves used for ulcers.

Availability
Wild-crafted.