Tsatsatsatsahan
Phyla nodiflora · Frogfruit
- Names in the book
- Tsatsatsatsahan, Chachachachahan, Tag.
- Used for
- Stomach and digestionUrinary
- Colours
- flowerwhite, pink, purple
- Native range
- Tropics and subtropics worldwide
- In the Philippines, per the book
- Very common in the rice fields.
- Family
- Verbenaceae, filed in the book under Verbenaceæ
- Printed as
- Lippia nodiflora, Rich. (Verbena nodiflora, L.; V. capitata, Blanco.)
- Sources
- Page 190 on Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
The plant today
Phyla nodiflora, commonly known as lippia, kurapia, turkey tangle frogfruit, capeweed, and frogfruit, is a species of flowering plant in the family Verbenaceae. It can be found in the tropics around the globe. It is often grown as an ornamental plant for ground cover, and is often present in yards or disturbed areas.
Excerpt from “Phyla nodiflora” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 69 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 3 provinces: Laguna (2), Batanes (1), Metropolitan Manila (1).
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 Filipinos drink an infusion of the leaves in place of tea, the long Tagalog name meaning “resembling tea.” In India they drink the hot infusion to aid digestion. In some places the decoction of the leaves is given internally as an emollient and diuretic for gonorrhœa.
Botanical description
A small plant with creeping stem taking root where it touches the ground, obscurely angular, covered with short down. Leaves opposite, smooth, clasping the stem, inversely ovate, serrate only above, slightly downy. Flowers white, slightly purplish, axillary on a common peduncle, in a rough conical head. Corolla somewhat bowed, funnel-form, gaping, throat narrow, limb 4-lobed, one lobe shorter than the rest. Stamens 4, 2 longer. Filament almost wanting. Anthers 4, fertile. Ovary superior, style very short. Stigma semi-globose. Fruit, 2 seeds covered by the pellicle of the ovary.
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.
- Genome-wide identification of HDAC members and function analysis of PnHDT1/2 in salt stress response in Phyla nodiflora (L.) Greene
- Chemical composition of organic extracts of Phyla nodiflora L. in Syria by GC-MS
- Multi-omics analyses provide insights into the molecular basis for salt tolerance of Phyla nodiflora