Malakatmon
Tetracera scandens · Stone leaf
- Names in the book
- Malakatmón, Tag.
- Colours
- flowerwhitefruitred
- Native range
- Southeast Asia, from southern China to the Philippines and Indonesia
- In the Philippines, per the book
- In the vicinity of Manila. Blooms in July.
- Family
- Dilleniaceae, filed in the book under Dilleniaceæ
- Printed as
- Tetracera macrophylla, Vall. (T. monocarpa, T. sarmentosa, Blanco.)
- Sources
- Page 17 on Project Gutenberg
The plant today
The native range of this species is China (Yunnan) to W. & Central Malesia. It is a climber and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome.
From Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, CC BY 3.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 183 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 8 provinces: Agusan del Sur (4), Palawan (4), Davao del Sur (2), Laguna (2), Albay (2), Bataan (1), Oriental Mindoro (1), Rizal (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 wood of malakatmón is one of the best known and popular drugs of the Binondo market place. It is used as an infusion internally in the hæmoptysis of consumptives, and externally in the treatment of sore throat, its action being due to the large amount of tannin it contains. It is also employed in Malabar in the form of an infusion of the leaves of the species, T. Rheedi, to treat sore throat, mixing it with a decoction of rice called cange.
The Filipinos do not distinguish this species from the T. Assa.
Both are called malakatmón, and are employed indiscriminately to accomplish the same results. The silicious concretion obtained from the leaves is used as a polish in the form of polish paper.
Dose
In infusion for internal use, 4 grams of wood to 1 liter of water; as a gargle, 10 to 15 grams to the liter.
Botanical description
A shrub with leaves alternate, oval, serrate, finely dentate with very short and stiff hairs. Flowers of a strong, rather agreeable odor, axillary, in panicles. Calyx, 4 sepals. Corolla, 4 petals. Stamens indefinite, expanding at the upper end and bearing 2 anthers. Carpels 3, with ovules indefinite in two series. Seeds with red arils.
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.
All 1 results on Europe PMC