Botany
Buntot-tigre is a herbaceous perennial with short stem and a rootstock that is very stout, branching and stoliniferous. Leaves are erect, fleshy, fibrous and flat ( in other varieties cylindrical or concave above, rounded dorsally), sub-erect, dagger-shaped, rigid, pale-green with transverse bands of dark green, or dark-green with gray mottles, 0.4 to 1.5 meters long, 4 to 7 cm wide. Scape is erect, 30 to 80 cm long. Flowers are pale-colored, numerous, in facsicles of 3 to 6, sweet-scented, 2.5 to 3 cm long, with the perianth segments nearly twice as long as the tube. Fruit is sparingly produced, globose, about 8 mm indiameter. Seeds are broadly ovoid and white, with horny albumen.

Distribution
Cultivated in many parts of the Philippines.
Naturalized, occurring in thickets and hedges at low and medium altitudes.
Native of tropical Asia, now pantropic in cultivation.

Constituents
Contains an active constituent: the alkaloid sansevierine.

Properties
Emollient, purgative, tonic, febrifuge.

Parts used and preparation
Leaves, shoots, rootstocks.

Uses
Folkloric
The roasted leaves used as an emollient.
In India, rootstocks used for cough.
Juice of tender shoots used in children to clear their throats of phlegm.
Also used as febrifuge, tonic and purgative.
In India, tender roots and rhizome used as expectorant. Also, used in bone setting.
Ethnoveterinary
In viral diseases associated with stringy nasal discharge, slightly warmed leaf juice is used as nasal drops, thrice in two hours. A paste is also applied over the body.
Others
Fiber: The leaves are a source of a strong white fiber use in the manufacture of bowstring, twine, cloth, and paper. It is sometimes mixed with the local piña.

Studies
• Anticancer: (1) Study of the methanol extract of Sansevieria roxburghiana in male Swiss albino mice transplanted with Erlich Ascites Carcinoma cell line showed significant dose-dependent anticancer activity. (2) Study of hydroalcoholic extract of SR for antituor activity against EA carcinoma exhibited remarkable antitumor activity attributed to its augmentation of endogenous antioxidant mechanisms.
• Antidiabetic / Antioxidant Modulation: Study of hydroalcoholilc extract of SR rhizome in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats demonstrated remarkable antidiabetic activity possibly through its modulation of endogenous antioxidant status.
(6)
ANTIDIABETIC ACTIVITY AND MODULATION OF ANTIOXIDANT STATUS BY SANSEVIERIA ROXBURGHIANA RHIZOME IN STREPTOZOTOCIN-INDUCED DIABETIC RATS / Pallab K Haldar, Biswakanth Kar et al / Diabetologia Croatica 39-4, 2010

Availability
Cultivated and wild-crafted.