Anabo
Abroma augustum · Devil's cotton
- Names in the book
- Anibog̃, Tag.; Anabo, Vis.; Perennial Indian Hemp, Eng.
- Colours
- flowerpurple, crimson
- Native range
- Tropical Asia
- In the Philippines, per the book
- San Mateo, La Laguna, Batangas, Iloilo.
- Family
- Malvaceae, filed in the book under Sterculiaceæ
- Printed as
- Abroma fastuosa, R. Br. (A. angulata, Lam.; A. communis, Blanco; A. augusta, L.)
- Sources
- Page 55 on Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
The plant today
Abroma is a genus of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae. It includes a single species, Abroma augustum, sometimes written Abroma augusta, and commonly known as devil's cotton. It is a shrub or tree native to tropical Asia, ranging from the Himalayas and southern China through Indochina and Malesia to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Abroma augustum has dark red flowers with a characteristic and unusual appearance. The leaves and stems are covered with soft bristly hairs that are very irritating to the touch. The bark yields a jute-like fiber. It is used as a traditional medicinal plant.
Excerpt from “Abroma” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 189 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 18 provinces, most often Agusan del Sur (18), Cebu (5), Davao del Sur (4), Aklan (3), Sorsogon (3), Camarines Sur (2), Iloilo (2), Occidental Mindoro (2), and 10 more.
Counts from GBIF occurrence records, October 2026. They include planted trees and garden plants, and a province with no records may only lack collectors.
What the 1901 book says
A historical record, quoted as printed. Doses and remedies here are not medical advice.
Uses
The root bark is used in India as an emmenagogue in the congestive and neuralgic forms of amenorrhœa. It seems to act as a uterine tonic. The dose is 2 grams of the juice of the fresh root mixed with pepper which also acts as a carminative and stomachic.
Botanical description
A shrub 3–4 meters high with hairy branches. Leaves opposite, oval, oblong, serrate, tomentose. Flowers purple, solitary, terminal. Calyx, 5 sepals. Corolla, 5 petals. Stamens 5, united in the form of a tube. Ovary sessile, with 5 many-ovuled compartments. Styles 5, united in the form of a tube which divides into 5 stigma-bearing branches. Capsule membranous, 5-angled, truncate, dehiscent at apex. Seeds albuminous, covered with filaments of cotton.
Recent research
The most cited papers since 2022 that name this plant in the title, pulled from Europe PMC in October 2026. Titles are the authors' own and the findings have not been reviewed here.
- Fucose-containing Abroma augusta mucilage hydrogel as a potential probiotic carrier with prebiotic function
- Antibacterial and antibiofilm activity of Abroma augusta stabilized silver (Ag) nanoparticles against drug-resistant clinical pathogens
- Ultrasonic high-yield extraction of non-toxic fucose-containing Abroma augusta polysaccharide bearing emulsifying properties