Ibaiba-an
Phyllanthus urinaria · Chamber bitter
- Names in the book
- Hierba de San Pablo, de San Pedro, Sp.
- Colours
- flowergreenish-whitefruitred
- Native range
- Tropical Asia
- 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 urinaria, L.
- Sources
- Page 214 on Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
The plant today
Phyllanthus urinaria is a species of annual flowering plant in the family Phyllanthaceae. It is native to Asia and has an introduced presence in tropical and subtropical areas worldwide. It has common names such as chamber bitter, gripeweed, shatterstone, stonebreaker, and leafflower.
Excerpt from “Phyllanthus urinaria” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 107 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 11 provinces, most often Metropolitan Manila (8), Davao del Sur (5), Davao del Norte (3), Quezon (2), Cavite (1), Leyte (1), Negros Oriental (1), North Cotabato (1), and 3 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 Sampa-sampalukan (Phyllanthus Niruri), 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.
- Application of chloroplast genome in the identification of Phyllanthus urinaria and its common adulterants
- Exosomal microRNA profiling revealed enhanced autophagy suppression and anti-tumor effects of a combination of compound Phyllanthus urinaria and lenvatinib in hepatocellular carcinoma
- Allium sativum@AgNPs and Phyllanthus urinaria@AgNPs: a comparative analysis for antibacterial application