Malabohok
Cassytha filiformis · Love-vine
- Names in the book
- Malabohok.
- Used for
- Hemorrhoids
- Colours
- flowerwhitestemyellow, green
- Native range
- Tropics worldwide
- In the Philippines, per the book
- Luzon, Mindanao, Cebú, on the seashore.
- Family
- Lauraceae, filed in the book under Lauraceæ
- Printed as
- Cassytha filiformis, L.
- Sources
- Page 209 on Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
The plant today
Cassytha filiformis or love-vine is an orangish, wiry, parasitic vine in the family Lauraceae. It is found in coastal forests of warm tropical regions worldwide including the Americas, Indomalaya, Australasia, Polynesia and tropical Africa. It is an obligate parasite, meaning it cannot complete its life-cycle without another host plant. Research in Florida (in southeast United States) has found that love-vine inhibits gall wasps by attacking the galls (small growths on plants) that the wasps create for their young.
Excerpt from “Cassytha filiformis” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 127 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 7 provinces: Quirino (3), Palawan (2), Batangas (1), Ilocos Sur (1), Lanao del Norte (1), Misamis Oriental (1), Zambales (1).
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
This plant has no therapeutical uses in the Philippines. In Senegal it is employed, according to Dujardin-Beaumetz, mixed with lard to treat urethritis; its action is to decrease the ardor urinæ. It is not stated whether this mixture is used internally or externally.
In Cochin China the same writer states that it is used as an antisyphilitic. In India it is used for the piles and as an alterative for bilious disorders. It possibly acts as a circulatory stimulant.
Botanical description
A slender, thread-like, cylindrical vine, without leaves, that covers the trees like a mantle, so luxuriant is its growth. Flowers yellow, in axillary spikes. Calyx small, 3 sepals. Corolla, 3 fleshy concave petals. Stamens 12 in 4 verticils, 9 fertile and 3 inner sterile. Ovary 1-celled, 1-ovuled. Style cylindrical. Drupe globose, 1–2″ in diameter, covered by a fleshy envelope, formed by the receptacle. Seeds without albumen.
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.
- Three New Aporphine Alkaloids with Glucose Consumption Increase Activity from Cassytha filiformis
- The invasion of Cassytha filiformis accelerated the litter decomposition of native plant communities in small tropical coral islands
- Host Selectivity and Distribution of Cassytha filiformis in the Coastal Bornean Heath Forests