Botany:
· An erect or ascending, slightly branched shrub, 0.5 to 1.5 m high, the stems round, greening with a pair of short, sharp spines at the base of each petiole.
· Leaves: rigid, coriaceous, green and shining, oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 9 to 14 cm long, sinuate-toothed, the teeth spinous, petioles 1 cm long or less.
· Flowers: about 4 cm long each, subtended by an ovate, green, closely appressed bracts 7 to 8 mm long and two similar but smaller bracteoles. Sepals green, 10 to 12 mm long, 4, outer two opposite, two inner ones smaller. Corolla tube 1 cm long, the lower lip pale-blue, spreading or recurved, about 3 cm long, 2.5 cm wide, pubescent within. Stamens 4, in two pairs, shorter than lip; filaments short, ovary 4-ovuled. Spikes terminal, dense or interrupted.
· Fruits: capsules, 2 to 2.5 cm long, 4-seeded.

Distribution
In low wet lands near the sea, subject to the influence of salt water, throughout the Philippines along tidal streams, swamps, mangrove, etc.

Parts utilized:
· Roots
· Gathered the year round.
· Rinse, section into slices, sun-dry.

Chemical constituents and properties
Cooling, mildly salt-tasting.
Antiphlogistic, anticontusion, expectorant.
Powdered leaves yield soft resins and a fatty matters colored with chlorophyll.
Leaves considered emollient.

Uses
Folkloric
Decoction of 30-60 g of dried material used for acute and chronic hepatitis, swelling-enlargement of the liver and spleen, swelling and enlargement of the lymph nodes, gastralgia, asthma.
Decoction of rrots and leaves used for asthma; also, to aid expectoration.
Root boiled in milk used for leucorrhea.
Tender shoots and leaves used for snake bites.
Leaves are high in mucilage and used as emollient fomentation in rheumatism.
Other
Plant is used in the manufacture of soap.

Availability
Wild-crafted.