Apoy-apoyan
Cleome viscosa · Asian spiderflower
- Names in the book
- Balabalanoyan, Apoyapoyan, Tag.; Wild Mustard, Eng.
- Colours
- floweryellow
- Native range
- Old World tropics
- Family
- Cleomaceae, filed in the book under Capparidaceæ
- Printed as
- Cleome viscosa, L. (C. icosandra, L.; Polanisia viscosa, DC.)
- Sources
- Page 31 on Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
The plant today
Cleome viscosa, the Asian spiderflower or tick weed is an annual herb that grows up to a meter high. It belongs to the family Cleomaceae. It is considered an invasive species and is widely distributed in warm and humid habitats across the Americas, Africa and Asia, and in Australia (where it is considered a native). It is commonly found during the rainy season. The crushed leaves have been investigated as a treatment for stored seeds of cowpea, to prevent weevil infestation. The leaves are used as external application to wounds and ulcers. The seeds are anthelmintic and carminative.
Excerpt from “Cleome viscosa” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 160 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 28 provinces, most often Davao Oriental (7), La Union (5), Cebu (4), Batangas (3), Davao del Norte (3), Ilocos Norte (3), Metropolitan Manila (3), Occidental Mindoro (3), and 20 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 seeds possess the same properties as those of mustard and are used in place of the latter in Manila. In America the leaves are used as a poultice in otitis, their action being rubefacient. In India the seeds are given internally for their anthelmintic and carminative effect; the dose is one teaspoonful twice a day. The juice of the leaves mixed with cocoanut oil is used in the form of eardrops in suppurative otitis.
The natives give the same common name to the Gynandropsis pentaphylla, DC. (Cleome pentaphylla, L.; C. altiacea or C. alliodora, Blanco), which is distinguished from the former by its six stamens inserted on the pistil and its violet-colored stem. Its therapeutic properties are identical with those of the Cleome viscosa. Dr. Sir W. Jones believes that the plant possesses antispasmodic properties, basing his belief on its odor, which resembles asafetida, though not so disagreeable. In India the juice of the leaves is a popular remedy for earache. It is also used there as a rubefacient.
Botanical description
An annual, the stem channeled and bearing glandular hairs. Leaves compound, alternate; leaflets lanceolate with glandular hairs. Calyx, 4 sepals. Corolla, 4 petals, yellow. Stamens 14–16, encircling the pistil. Seed vessels cylindrical, with channels and glandular hairs. The whole plant is sticky and emits a garlicky odor.
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.
- Pharmacological and Toxicological Study of Coumarinolignoids from Cleome viscosa in Small Animals for the Management of Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Cyclooxygenase Enzyme and Lipid Peroxidation Inhibitory Terpenoids and Steroidal compounds as Major Constituents in Cleome viscosa Leaves
- Imperatorin from the aerial parts of Cleome viscosa L.: a characterization study and evaluation of the antibacterial activity