Niyog-niyogan
Combretum indicum · Rangoon creeper
- Names in the 1901 book
- Tagaraw, Niogniogan, Tag.; Tangolon, Vis.; Babebabe, Pam.; Tartaraw, Iloc.
- Names in the 1985 book
- English: Burma creeper, Chinese honeysuckle; Tagalog: Tagaran, Totoraok, Talulo, Niyog-niyogan; Visayan: Pinon, Balitadham, Pinones
- Used for
- Cough and asthmaWorms
- Colours
- flowerwhite, pink, red
- Native range
- Tropical Asia
- In the Philippines, per the book
- San Mateo, and along the shores of Luzon. Blooms in May.
- Family
- Combretaceae, filed in the book under Combretaceæ
- Printed in 1901 as
- Quisqualis Indica, L. (Q. villosa, Roxb.; Q. spinosa, Nares.)
- Printed in 1985 as
- Quisqualis indica L.
- Sources
- Page 112 on Project Gutenberg · Healing Wonders of Herbs (1985), page 114 · Wikipedia
The plant today
Combretum indicum, commonly known as the Rangoon creeper or Burma creeper, is a vine with red flower clusters which is native to tropical Asia and grows in thickets, primary and secondary forest, and along river banks in the Indian subcontinent, Malaysia and the Philippines. It has since been cultivated and naturalized in tropical areas such as Burma, Vietnam, and Thailand.
Excerpt from “Combretum indicum” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sa Tagalog
Ang niyog-niyogan (Combretum indicum o Quisqualis indica) ay isang halamang baging na may habang 2.5 hanggang 8 metro na matatagpuan sa Asya. Ang mga dahon ng niyog-niyogan ay pahaba at matutulis na may habang 7 hanggang 15 sentimetro. Ang mga bulaklak ng halamang ito ay mahalimuyak ay hugis tubo. Ang mga bulaklak na ito ay nag-iiba iba ang kulay habang ito ay nagkakagulang, puti hanggang sa maging kulay rosas hanggang sa ito ay maging pula.
Sipi mula sa “Niyog-niyogan” sa Tagalog Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 274 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 35 provinces, most often Davao del Sur (22), Laguna (22), Metropolitan Manila (12), Davao Oriental (11), Batangas (7), Zamboanga del Norte (7), Bataan (6), South Cotabato (6), and 27 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 fruit contains a kernel that tastes much like cacao, for which reason the Tagalogs call it “niogniogan” (like cacao). This kernel is a powerful anthelmintic, used also in India, the dose for a child of 4 years being 2–4, pulverized and mixed with a little molasses or sugar. A large dose produces hiccough, a fact well known to the natives. Dr. Bouton states that they may cause convulsions and other similar nervous disorders.
They yield a light green, fixed oil, probably the active principle of the plant.
Botanical description
A climbing shrub, 6–9° high, whose stem is thickly set with long, opposite thorns. Leaves in stars of 3, oblong, acute, entire, glabrous. Petioles very short. Flowers white, veined with red, in axillary spikes. Calyx very long, nearly cylindrical, 5-toothed. Corolla, 5 petals, inserted between the teeth of the calyx. Stamens 10, inserted on the calyx-tube, shorter than the corolla, arranged in 2 series, 5 higher than the rest. Style the same length as the stamens, united throughout nearly its entire length with the wall of the calyx-tube from which it separates near the stigma. Stigma rather bulky. Fruit 1′ long, ovoid, 5 sharp ridges in the woody, fragile, mahogany-colored pericarp, which contains a pointed kernel at one end.
What the 1985 book uses it for
A record of home remedies from 1985, with the book's amounts and doses reworded. It is not medical advice.
- Worm infestationSeeds eaten raw two hours after supper, for pinworms.Adults eat 10 seeds. Children 4 to 7 eat 4, ages 8 to 9 eat 6, ages 10 to 12 eat 7. May be repeated after a week.Page 45
Summarised from Herminia de Guzman-Ladion, Healing Wonders of Herbs (Manila: Philippine Publishing House, 1985), where this plant is shown as “Niyog-niyogan” on page 114. The book is in copyright, so its wording and photographs are not reproduced. Amounts are the book's, restated.
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.
- Comparative transcriptome analysis reveals an insight into the candidate genes involved in anthocyanin and scent volatiles biosynthesis in colour changing flowers of Combretum indicum
- Temporal accumulation of pigments during colour transformation from white to red in Combretum indicum (L.) DeFilipps (syn. Quisqualis indica L.) flowers
- Repeated oral dose toxicity and genotoxicity of a standardized Quisqualis indica extract