Botany
· Large, spiny woody vine which is pungent in all its parts and provided with sharp, recurved prickles.
· Leaves: 3-foliate, leaflets sessile, ovate-elliptic, obovate or obovate-oblong; 3 to 8 cm long, 5 to 25 mm wide, and rounded at the base, pointed at the apex.
· Flowers: small, greenish-white, 5 mm across and borne on terminal cymes or from the upper leaf axils.
· Fruits: small, nearly spherical, less than 1 cm in diameter, borne in fairly large clusters, 3 to 5 grooved and with as many cells and orange-red when ripe. Seeds solitary in each cell.

Distribution
In thickets at low and medium altitudes, ascending to 1,700 m. Luzon (Benguet, Mtn. Province, Rizal, Laguna, Nueva Vizcaya), Palawan.

Constituents
Volatile oil, 0.08% - toddalolactone, citronella, linalool.
Stem bark - aculeatin; aculeatin hydrate; colorless substance, m.p.239.

Parts utiliezed and preparation
· Entire plant.
· May be collected the whole year round.
· Rinse, cut into sections, sun-dry.

Characteristics and Pharmacological Effects
Bitter-tasting, minty, warming-natured. Activates blood, dissipates contusions, antiphlogistic, analgesic.

Folkloric uses
· Rheumatic arthritis, sprains, contusions, intercostal neuralgia.
· Cough, malaria.
· Dysentery, gastralgia.
· Poisonous snakebites.
· Furuncle infections: use pounded fresh leaves as poultice.
· Dosage: 6 to 9 gms dried material in decoction. Pounded fresh leaves or bark may be used as poultices over afflicted areas.

Availability
Wild-crafted.