Omphalea. Omphalea megacarpa, Omphalea triandra, Omphalea diandra.
Omphalea.—According to Calmody, the government chemist in Trinidad, the seeds of the Omphalea megacarpa (?), Fam. Euphorbiaceae, yield an oil which acts as a brisk cathartic in about three hours after taking, without pain or much continuance. (P. J., Feb., 1898.) Cash (J. P., 1911, xxxvi, p. 488) obtained from the Omphalea triandra seed, 56 per cent. of a pale yellow oil, with a specific gravity of 0.924, which, in doses of 0.5 Gm. exercised a cathartic and diuretic action. From the O. diandra (Megacarpa) he obtained an oil somewhat darker in color than the preceding which had a specific gravity of 0.922 and a saponification value of 190.3, and an iodine value of 119.7. This oil was also a cathartic and diuretic, although somewhat larger doses were required than in the oil from the O. triandra. From the allied plant, Garcia nutans, he also obtained a cathartic oil.
