Gumamela
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis · Chinese hibiscus
- Names in the 1901 book
- Takurag̃an, Arog̃anan, Kayag̃a, Tapulag̃a, Gumamila, Tag., Vis., Pam.; Rose of China, Eng.
- Names in the 1985 book
- English: China rose, Hibiscus; Tagalog: Gumamela; Ilocano: Kayanga; Visayan: Tapolanga, Tapuranga, Tarokanga
- Used for
- Cough and asthmaWounds, burns and boilsJoint pain, sprains and swellingMenstruation and childbirth
- Colours
- flowerred
- Native range
- Uncertain; long cultivated in tropical Asia and the Pacific
- In the Philippines, per the book
- Universally common in the Philippines.
- Family
- Malvaceae, filed in the book under Malvaceæ
- Printed in 1901 as
- Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis, L.
- Printed in 1985 as
- Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Linn.
- Sources
- Page 46 on Project Gutenberg · Healing Wonders of Herbs (1985), page 84 · Wikipedia
The plant today
Hibiscus × rosa-sinensis (known colloquially as Chinese hibiscus, China rose, Hawaiian hibiscus, rose mallow and shoeblack plant) is a cultigen of tropical hibiscus, a flowering plant in the Hibiscus genus and Hibisceae tribe of the family Malvaceae. It is an artificial hybrid created in cultivation during the pre-Columbian era by Polynesians in the west Pacific from the species Hibiscus cooperi and H. kaute (native to Vanuatu and French Polynesia, respectively). It is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant in the tropics and subtropics.
Excerpt from “Hibiscus × rosa-sinensis” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 171 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 35 provinces, most often Zamboanga del Norte (35), Metropolitan Manila (13), Davao Oriental (9), Negros Occidental (7), Batanes (4), Isabela (4), Laguna (4), Zamboanga del Sur (4), 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 flowers are emollient and are widely used by the Filipinos as a domestic remedy; they are bruised and applied to boils, tumors and all sorts of inflammations. The decoction is much used internally in bronchial catarrh for its sudorific effect.
The Chinese use the trunk bark as an emmenagogue, calling it Fu-yong-pi.
Botanical description
A small tree about 7° high commonly called Gumamela in Manila; the leaves are ovate, acute, with about 5 nerves, serrate from the middle to the apex, hairs growing sparsely on both surfaces, with a small group of dark-colored, deciduous hairs growing on the lower part of the midrib. Petioles short with 2 stipules at the base. Calyx double, the outer part divided almost to the base into 6–8 parts; the inner cylindrical, divided in 5. Corolla large, splendid scarlet-red, often double, on slender peduncles. Styles numerous. Fruit identical with that of the Hibiscus tiliaceus.
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.
- Abscesses and boilsChopped leaves and flowers as a poultice.Chop 5 leaves with 2 flowers. Apply twice a day.Page 12
Summarised from Herminia de Guzman-Ladion, Healing Wonders of Herbs (Manila: Philippine Publishing House, 1985), where this plant is shown as “Gumamela” on page 84. 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.
- Microwave-assisted synthesis, characterization and in vitro biomedical applications of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Linn.-mediated carbon quantum dots
- Screening the possible anti-cancer constituents of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis flower to address mammalian target of rapamycin: an in silico molecular docking, HYDE scoring, dynamic studies, and pharmacokinetic prediction
- Development of a PCL-PEO double network colorimetric pH sensor using electrospun fibers containing Hibiscus rosa sinensis extract and silver nanoparticles for food monitoring