Kamuning
Murraya paniculata · Orange jasmine
- Names in the book
- Kamunig̃, Tag.
- Used for
- Diarrhea and dysentery
- Colours
- flowerwhitefruitred
- Native range
- South and Southeast Asia to Australia
- Family
- Rutaceae, filed in the book under Rutaceæ
- Printed as
- Murraya exotica, L. (M. paniculata, Jack.; Connarus fœtens, and C. santaloides, Blanco.)
- Sources
- Page 64 on Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
The plant today
Murraya paniculata, commonly known as orange jasmine, orange jessamine, china box, cosmetic barktree, or mock orange, is a species of shrub or small tree in the family Rutaceae and is native to South Asia, Southeast Asia and Australia. It has smooth bark, pinnate leaves with up to seven egg-shaped to elliptical leaflets, fragrant white or cream-coloured flowers and oval, orange-red berries containing hairy seeds.
Excerpt from “Murraya paniculata” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 310 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 25 provinces, most often Metropolitan Manila (42), Laguna (15), Cavite (9), Cebu (9), Batangas (7), Rizal (6), Batanes (5), Cagayan (5), and 17 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 leaves are stimulant and astringent, and are used in infusion (15 grams, to water one liter) to treat diarrhea and dysentery. The root and trunk barks are used for the same treatment and they as well as the leaves owe their properties to an essential oil and a bitter principle present in all parts of the plant. Vry has demonstrated the presence of a glucoside which he has named murrayin (C18H22O10); it crystallizes in small, white needles, is slightly bitter, soluble in hot water and alcohol, insoluble in ether, slightly soluble in cold water. It melts at 170°, and dissolves in alkaline solutions coloring them green. Boiled in dilute acids it splits into murrayetin and glucose. Murrayetin (C12H12O10) crystallizes in white needles, inodorous, tasteless, slightly soluble in cold water and in ether, soluble in hot water and alcohol. Heat destroys its green color in solutions; alkalies, in the presence of cold, increase it. The leaves and the bark of the plant contain an essential oil.
The foregoing description of this species applies equally well to the following species.
Botanical description
A small tree 12° high with leaves alternate, odd-pinnate. Leaflets lanceolate, almost entire, rigid with small dots on each surface. Flowers in axillary, very short, compound racemes. Calyx very small, monophyllous, 5 lanceolate lobules. Corolla much longer than the calyx, 5 lanceolate petals. Stamens 10, joined, but not entirely united at the base; 5 alternate stamens longer than the others. Anthers sessile, regular. Ovary superior, compressed and borne on a disc. Style 1, same length as the stamens. Stigma thick, depressed, apparently 4-angled. Fruit fleshy, ovoid, acute and somewhat curved at the end enclosing a seed with coriaceous, downy testa.
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.
- Chromosome-level genome assembly of Murraya paniculata sheds light on biosynthesis of floral volatiles
- Natural coumarins from Murraya paniculata as mixed-type inhibitors of cholinesterases: In vitro and in silico investigations
- Anticholinesterases activity of Murraya koenigii (L.) Spreng. and Murraya paniculata (L.) Jacq. essential oils with GC/MS analysis and molecular docking