Tan-ag
Kleinhovia hospita · Guest tree
- Names in the book
- Tanag, Tag., Vis.; Hamitanago, Vis.; Panampat, Pam.; Bitnog̃, Iloc.
- Used for
- Skin
- Colours
- flowerpink
- Native range
- Tropical Asia to the Pacific
- In the Philippines, per the book
- Luzon, Mindanao, Panay, Cebú, Joló. Flowers in March and September.
- Family
- Malvaceae, filed in the book under Sterculiaceæ
- Printed as
- Kleinhovia hospitata, L.
- Sources
- Page 53 on Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
The plant today
Kleinhovia is a monotypic genus of plants in the cotton, hibiscus and cacao family Malvaceae. The sole species in the genus is Kleinhovia hospita, commonly known as guest tree, an evergreen tree native to Indonesia, Malaysia and other parts of tropical Asia and the Pacific.
Excerpt from “Kleinhovia” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 374 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 26 provinces, most often Agusan del Sur (13), Palawan (11), Batangas (7), Davao del Sur (5), Davao Oriental (4), Sorsogon (4), Samar (3), Camarines Sur (2), and 18 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 decoction of the leaves is used, according to P. Blanco, to cure the itch. It is also used locally in all forms of dermatitis, and the tender leaves and sprouts are cooked and eaten.
Botanical description
Tree 25° high or more, with leaves alternate, heart-shaped, pubescent, almost entire. Petioles long with 2 stipules at the base. Flowers red, axillary, in large panicles. Calyx, 5 sepals, almost linear. Corolla the same size as the calyx, 5 linear petals, the lower shorter and curved. Nectary bell-shaped, of 5 parts, each 3-toothed; set on a column; at its base a wavy fringe with dentate edge. Stamens 15. No filaments. Anthers seated on the 15 teeth of the nectary. Ovary within the nectary, 5-angled, 5 apartments each containing an almost spherical seed.
Recent research
The most cited papers since 2018 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.
All 1 results on Europe PMC