Alagaw
Premna odorata · Fragrant premna
- Names in the book
- Tagalog: Adiyo, Alagaw; Ilocano: Anobrang; Pampango: Pumuhat Tangli; Visayan: Agbaw, Argau, Abgan
- Used for
- Cough and asthma
- Colours
- flowergreenish-whitefruitpurple, black
- Native range
- South and Southeast Asia to northern Australia
- Family
- Lamiaceae
- Printed as
- Premna Odorata Blanco
- Sources
- Healing Wonders of Herbs (1985), page 64 · Wikipedia
The plant today
Premna odorata, the fragrant premna, is a species of flowering plant in the Lamiaceae family. It is native to the Indian subcontinent, Yunnan, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, and northern Australia, and naturalized in southern Florida. A small tree rarely reaching 10 m, it is used as a source for traditional medicine in the Philippines, and is planted occasionally as an ornamental there and elsewhere. The island of Siargao in the Philippines is named after P. odorata (known as siargaw or saliargaw in the local languages).
Excerpt from “Premna odorata” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sa Tagalog
Ang alagaw o sauko (Premna odorata Blanco) ay isang uri ng katutubong halaman sa Pilipinas na pinaniniwalaang may katangiang pang-kalusugan na nakatutulong sa pagpapainam ng pag-ihi.
Sipi mula sa “Alagaw” sa Tagalog Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 421 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 40 provinces, most often Zamboanga del Norte (42), Agusan del Sur (26), Quezon (11), Metropolitan Manila (10), Bataan (9), Rizal (9), Batanes (7), Benguet (7), and 32 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 1985 book uses it for
A record of home remedies from 1985, with the book's amounts and doses reworded. It is not medical advice.
- CoughLeaf decoction with kalamansi and sugar, drunk.Boil 1 cup of chopped fresh leaves in 2 glasses of water for 15 minutes, strain, then add the juice of 2 kalamansi and a little sugar. Adults take half a cup every 4 hours. Children every 4 hours: babies 1 teaspoon, ages 2 to 6 2 tablespoons, ages 7 to 12 a quarter cup.Page 20
Summarised from Herminia de Guzman-Ladion, Healing Wonders of Herbs (Manila: Philippine Publishing House, 1985), where this plant is shown as “Alagaw” on page 64. The book is in copyright, so its wording and photographs are not reproduced. Amounts are the book's, restated.
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.
- Amelioration of aluminum-induced hepatic and nephrotoxicity by Premna odorata extract is mediated by lowering MMP9 and TGF-β gene alterations in Wistar rat
- Anticancer Potential of Bioactive Compounds in Premna serratifolia, Premna odorata, and Premna tomentosa: A Review of In Vitro Evidence
- Premna odorata extract exhibits anti-inflammatory activity via suppression of NLRP3 inflammasome