Botany
· Shrub or small tree, usually not more than 3 to 4 m in height.
· Leaves: bipinnate, occasionally tripinnate, 20 to 40 cm long. Leaflets are numerous, oblong-ovate, toothed and 4 to 7 cm long.
· Flowers: fragrant, 5-parted and borne on pannicles 10 to 20 cm long. Petals about 1 cm long and oblong-spatulate and pale lilac, while the staminal tube is usually dark purple and about 7 mm long.
· Fruits: ovoid or subglubose and about 1 cm long.

Distribution
Paraiso is cultivated in Manila and in the larger towns as an ornamental and for its fragrant flowers.

Parts utilized
· Fruits, leaves, bark of roots and bark of trunk.
· Collect fruits from November to April, leaves from May to October, roots and bark the whole year round.
· Remove the outermost bark, rinse, and sun-dry. Cut into sections.

Properties
Bitter tasting, refrigerant, toxic, vermifuge-analgesic, antiphlogistic.

Constituents·
The secondary cortex layer and the bark of the tree contain margosine and tannic acid. The fruits contain azadine, resin, benzoic acid and meliotannic acid. The root cortex, the bark and the fruits contain toxic principles.

Folkloric uses
· Gastralgia, abdominal pain due to ascaris infestation: use 3 to 9 gms dried fruits in decoction.
· Malignant furuncle, scabies, eczema, etc: Poultice of pounded leaves.
· Intestinal parasitism (ascariasis, round worms, Trichiuris, hookworms, etc): Use root bark, trunk bark (remove outermost bark), 9 to 12 gms in aqueous decoction.
· Overdosage can cause vertigo, vomiting, abdominal pains, debility, paresthesias, syncope. White cane sugar or sugar cane decoction used as antidote.

Availability
Wild-crafted.