Morinda. Morinda tinctoria. Indian Mulberry. Morinda umbellata, Morinda citrifolia, Morinda longiflora.

Morinda.—From the wood of the Morinda tinctoria Roxb. (Fam. Rubiaceae), or Indian Mulberry, Anderson (P. J., 1886) claimed to have obtained a glucoside morindin, which yielded on hydrolysis trihydroxy-methyl-anthraquinone. Oesterle (A. Pharm., 1907, ccxiv), however, was unable to find this glucoside, but did obtain a monomethyl-ether-tri-oxymethyl-anthraquinone, C16H12O5. M. umbellata L., M. citrifolia L., and the M. longiflora G. Don., all yield anthraquinone derivatives. (See Barrowcliff and Tutin, Trans. British Chem. Soc., 1907.) These plants are used by the African aborigines as remedial agents, but there is no reliable evidence of their therapeutic value.


The Dispensatory of the United States of America, 1918, was edited by Joseph P. Remington, Horatio C. Wood and others.