[An arbitrary name, said in Pharm. Jrnl. to have been invented by Mr. Ryder, who first sent specimens to Europe.] A drug extracted from the root of the Fijian plant Epipremnum pinnatum, Engler, used by the natives of Fiji as a remedy for neuralgia; also known in England and America. Also attrib.
(For its introduction into England, see The Lancet, for March, 1880, 360, 361, also 445, and the Pharmaceutical Journal for April, 1880. A full history in Gardeners’ Chron., 1882, XVII. 180, and Journal of Bot., 1882, 332.)
1880. S. Ringer, in Lancet, 6 March, 360/1. On Tonga: a remedy for neuralgia used by the natives of the Fiji Islands.
1880. Kew Report, 55.
1882. N. E. Brown, in Gard. Chron., XVII. 180/2. The Tonga plant is an ornamental climber of rapid growth, with bold dark green pinnatisect leaves.
1883. Science, I. 80/2. The drug tonga is shown … to be the product mainly of a climbing aroid (Epiprem[n]um mirabile).
Hence Tongine, Chem.: see quot.
1890. Billings, Nat. Med. Dict., Tongine, a volatile alkaloid found by Gerrard in tonga.
