Botany
Kamagsa is a sprawling shrub or a suberect, woody, smooth vine attaining a height of 1 to 3 meters. Leaves are pinnately compound and 15 to 25 centimeters long. Leaflets are 12 to 20, oblong-ovate to oblong-lanceolate, 4 to 8 centimeters in length. Flowers are white or pink, very numerous, and 5 to 7 millimeters long, and grow on panicles 5 to 15 centimeters long which are borne at the axils of the leaves. Pods are red, about 1 centimeter long, somewhat curved, split down one side, and surrounded at the base by the calyx.

Distribution
- In dry thickets and second-growth forests at low and medium altitudes from northern to central Luzon, and in Lubang, Mindoro, Cuyo, Leyte, Panay, and Bantayan.
- Also occurs from tropical Africa, Madagascar, to Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia throughout Malaysia to northern Australia, New Caledonia, Fiji and Samoa.

Constituents
- Fruit contains an active poison. It has been found very poisonous to dogs but without any effects on guinea pigs. Study suggests the nonpoisonous character of the plant toward herbivora. A study found the poison to be glucosidal in nature.

Properties
Fruit considered poisonous.
Plant considered aperient, sudorific and purgative.

Parts used
Roots, leaves.

Uses
Folkloric
- Decoction of fresh or dried leaves used for gastralgia. Also, considered, absorbent.
- Plant considered sudorific and purgative.
- Decoction of roots used as uterine tonic and depurative.
- Decoction of roots, at one teaspoon or less, used as emetic; exceeding this amount, it is poisonous. The decoction, mixed with food, will kill dogs and hogs feeding on it. The animals become nauseated or swoon and die.
- Wood of the root, pounded, boiled, and mixed with food, known to kill dogs who feed on it.
- In Peninsular Malaysia, plant used as an aperient. Decoction of wood taken for fever and as post-partum medicine. Root rubbed on sore places in the mouth of children with thrush.


Studies
• Glycvosides / Antimalarial: Study of dried stems of Rourea minor (Gaertn.) isolated two glycosides, rourinoside and rouremin, as well as 5 known compounds. Rourinoside, rouremin and -(26-hydroxyhexacosanoyl)-glycerol showed weak in vitro activities against Plasmodium falcifarum.

Availability
Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Rourinoside and rouremin, antimalarial constituents from Rourea minor / Zhen-Dan He, Cui-Ying Ma et al /
Phytochemistry, Volume 67, Issue 13, July 2006, Pages 1378-1384 / doi:10.1016/j.phytochem.2006.04.012