Botany
· Erect, somewhat branched, smooth, half-woody herb or shrubby plant, 0.8 to 1.5 m high.
· Leaves: pinnate and about 20 cm long. Rachis with a large gland at the base. Leaflets rank-smelling, occurring in 5 pairs, oblong-lanceolate, 4 to 9 cm long, and somewhat pointed at the base and tapering gradually to a fine, pointed tip.
· Flowers: yellow and 2 cm long and borne on axillary and terminal racemes. Calyx tube short, sepals imbricate; petals 5, subequal. Stamens 10, rarely all perfect, 3 to 5 being reduced to staminodes or sometimes absent; anthers mostly basifixed opening by terminal pores or with the slit more or less continued downward. Ovary sessile or stalked.
· Fruits: pods, about 10 cm long, 9 mm wide and thickened and containing about 40 seeds.

Distribution
At low and medium altitudes, as a weed in waste places, in and about towns throughout the Philippines.

Part utilized
· Entire plant or seeds.
· Collect from May to October.
· Rinse, cut into pieces, sun-dry.

Characteristics and Pharmacological Effects:
Bitter tasting.
Antidote.
Laxative.

Uses
· Poisonous snake and insect bites.
· Chronic gastroenteritis, constipation, indigestion, gastric pains.
· Asthma, fever.
· Dosage: 9 to 16 gms dried material in decoction. For snakebites, use pounded fresh material applied as poultice.

Note: Slightly toxic, poisonous when taken in considerable amounts by domesticated animals. The seeds contain Emodin, mucilage, proteins, tannic acid, fatty acids and essential oils.

Availability
Wild-crafted.