Tubang-kamaisa
Croton tiglium · Purging croton
- Names in the book
- Tuba kamaisa, Tag.; The Purging Croton, Eng.
- Colours
- flowergreenish-yellow
- Native range
- South and Southeast Asia and southern China
- In the Philippines, per the book
- Common in Luzon.
- Family
- Euphorbiaceae, filed in the book under Euphorbiaceæ
- Printed as
- Croton Tiglium, L. (C. glandulosum, C. muricatum, Blanco.)
- Sources
- Page 218 on Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
The plant today
Croton tiglium, known as purging croton, is a plant species in the family Euphorbiaceae.
Excerpt from “Croton tiglium” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 183 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 18 provinces, most often Maguindanao (10), Albay (6), Catanduanes (3), Ifugao (3), Metropolitan Manila (3), Negros Oriental (2), Nueva Ecija (2), Oriental 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 fruit is used by the Filipinos to intoxicate the fish in ponds and sluggish streams. The seeds contain an oil that is official in all Pharmacopœias as one of the most powerful hydragogue cathartics. As it is intensely irritating it should never be administered alone but combined with other substances, such as castor oil, or in pill form. The internal dose is 1 to 2 drops. It is considered a specific for lead colic and is indicated when not only purgation but active irritation of the digestive canal is desired.
Applied to the skin it is a strong irritant causing rapid and painful vesication. Great care should be exercised not to raise the hands to the eyes after touching the oil, as serious inflammation might result.
Botanical description
A small tree, 8–9° high, with rough trunk. Leaves alternate, ovate, acute, minutely serrate, both surfaces beset with sharp hairs. Flowers yellowish-white, monœcious. Staminate: Fewer than the pistillate, growing above them; calyx 5-toothed; corolla, 5 woolly petals; stamens 16, joined in the center. Pistillate: Calyx 5-toothed; corolla much less developed than in the staminate; ovary free, 3 uniovulate locules; styles 3, bifid. Seed vessel dry, with thin envelope bristling with stiff hairs; 3 carpels each containing a seed.
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.
- Botany, traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacological and toxicological effects of Croton tiglium Linn.: a comprehensive review
- Evaluation of developmental toxicity and genotoxicity of aqueous seed extract of Croton tiglium L. using zebrafish
- Croton tiglium L. seeds ameliorate loperamide-induced constipation via regulating gastrointestinal hormones and gut microbiota before and after processing