Sampa-sampalukan
Phyllanthus niruri · Stonebreaker
- Names in the book
- Hierba de San Pablo, de San Pedro, Sp.
- Colours
- flowergreenish-white
- Native range
- Tropical Americas
- In the Philippines, per the book
- Very common in Manila and all over Luzon.
- Family
- Phyllanthaceae, filed in the book under Euphorbiaceæ
- Printed as
- Phyllanthus Niruri, L.
- Sources
- Page 214 on Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
The plant today
Phyllanthus niruri in the genus Phyllanthus of the family Phyllanthaceae is a widespread tropical plant commonly found in coastal areas from Texas southward through Mexico, Central America, and wide regions of South America and India. It has the common name chanca piedra among numerous others in Spanish.
Excerpt from “Phyllanthus niruri” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 53 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 12 provinces, most often Zamboanga del Norte (14), Surigao del Sur (4), Lanao del Norte (3), Albay (3), Batanes (1), Bulacan (1), Cagayan (1), Cavite (1), and 4 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.
The book gives one account for this plant and Ibaiba-an (Phyllanthus urinaria), so the text below appears on each page.
Uses
This species is not used medicinally in the Philippines, but in India is given for its diuretic effect and has great repute in the treatment of genito-urinary diseases, dropsy and gonorrhœa. The infusion of the leaves of P. Niruri with Fenugreek seeds is a highly prized remedy for chronic dysentery, mentioned by Ainslie. The leaves are bitter and tonic and in Bombay they are in common use in gonorrhœa to correct the acidity of the urine. Bruised and mixed with salt they make a sort of jelly frequently used as an application for itch; without salt the same is used for contusions.
The dose of the leaf juice of both species, for internal use, is 15 grams a day in divided doses.
A decoction of the entire plant well dried and powdered, is given for jaundice in doses of 5 grams a day.
The milky juice of the stem is useful in the local treatment of ulcers. The bruised root is employed in Concan for neuralgia.
Botanical description
P. Niruri is an herb with straight stem. Leaves alternate, pinnate with stylet in place of the odd leaflet. Leaflets nearly oval, glabrous, 2 stipules at the base. Flowers monœcious, greenish, axillary; the staminate growing along the common petiole above the pistillate. Staminate: Calyx, 5 lanceolate, entire sepals; no corolla; 1 filament with 1 anther. Pistillate: Calyx and corolla as above; ovary free, 3 biovulate cells; style with 2 stigma-bearing branches. Fruit capsular, globose.
P. urinaria may be distinguished by its sessile flowers and reddish stem.
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.
- In silico, in vitro screening of antioxidant and anticancer potentials of bioactive secondary metabolites from an endophytic fungus (Curvularia sp.) from Phyllanthus niruri L
- Biosynthesis of zirconium nanoparticles (ZrO2 NPs) by Phyllanthus niruri extract: Characterization and its photocatalytic dye degradation activity
- Low-energy assisted sodium alginate stabilized Phyllanthus niruri extract nanoemulsion: Characterization, in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial application