Tagak-tagak
Rhinacanthus nasutus · Snake jasmine
- Names in the book
- Tagaktagak, Tag.; Nagamulli, Indo-Eng.
- Colours
- flowerwhite
- Native range
- South and Southeast Asia
- In the Philippines, per the book
- Common in the gardens of Manila.
- Family
- Acanthaceae, filed in the book under Acanthaceæ
- Printed as
- Rhinacanthus communis, Nees. (Justicia nasuta, L.)
- Sources
- Page 189 on Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
The plant today
Rhinacanthus nasutus, commonly known as snake jasmine, is a plant native to tropical Asia – India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indochina, Peninsular Malaysia, and the Philippines. It is a slender, erect, branched, somewhat hairy shrub 1–2 m in height. The leaves are oblong, 4–10 cm in length, and narrowed and pointed at both ends. The inflorescence is a spreading, leafy, hairy panicle with the flowers usually in clusters. The calyx is green, hairy, and about 5 mm long. The corolla-tube is greenish, slender, cylindric, and about 2 cm long.
Excerpt from “Rhinacanthus nasutus” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 37 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 4 provinces: Agusan del Sur (17), Bukidnon (1), Lanao del Norte (1), Negros Oriental (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 plant has much reputation in India in the treatment of skin diseases, and indeed its efficiency is great in the stubborn Tinea circinata tropica, known throughout the Orient as “dhobie-itch.” In this disease it is applied for several days to the affected part in the form of a paste composed of the bruised leaves, the juice of the leaves and lemon juice. The fresh root also may be employed. The Hindoo physicians state that the root decoction in milk is aphrodisiac; the root is also regarded as an antidote for the bite of the “cobra da cabelho,” but its virtue is purely imaginary. Of late years the plant has been used in Europe under the name of “tong-pang-chong,” to treat chronic eczema.
Liborius made an analysis of the root in the laboratory of Dorpat, separating 13.51% ash and 1.87% rhinocanthin, as well as other ingredients. Rhinocanthin (C14H18O4) is supposed to be the active principle of the root. It is analogous to quinon and resembles in many particulars chrysophanic and frangulic acids. It forms a resinous, amorphous mass, cherry red, odorless and tasteless, slightly soluble in water, forming a mildly alkaline solution in alcohol. It does not yield glucose when boiled with dilute hydrochloric acid. Liborius believes that it exists only in the intercellular spaces of the “root bark.”
Botanical description
A shrub, about 4° high, stem ash-colored, no spines. Leaves lanceolate, undulate, downy. Flowers white in spikes. Calyx gamosepalous, 5-toothed. Corolla long, filiform, limb 4-lobed, the 3 lower lobes ovate, the upper pointed. Stamens 2. Ovary free, 2 biovulate locules. Style simple. Stigma bifid. Seed vessel club-shaped, 4 seeds in the upper part.
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.
- Rhinacanthus nasutus and okara polysaccharides attenuate colitis via inhibiting inflammation and modulating the gut microbiota
- Antioxidant and Anticancer Potential of Bioactive Compounds from Rhinacanthus nasutus Cell Suspension Culture
- Induction of S arrest and apoptosis in human oral cancer cells by Rhinacanthin-C extracted from Rhinacanthus nasutus via modulating Akt and p38 signaling pathways