Botany
Malais-is is a vine or climbing shrub reaching a height of 4 to 8 meters, smooth except for young branchlets and inflorescences. Leaves are leathery, oblong-ovate to elliptic-oblong, 4 to 10 centimeters long, 2.5 to 4 centimeters wide, smooth, somewhat rough or sandpapery on the undersurface, with entire or obscurely toothed margins, the tip pointed and the base rounded or pointed. Female inflorescence is densely hairy. Fruit is oval, 6 to 7 millimeters long, red, stalkless, occurring in clusters on the axils of leaves, and 1 to 2 to each receptacle.

Distribution
- In thickets and forest at low and medium altitudes from northern Luzon to Mindanao and Palawan.
- Also occurs in China and Taiwan to Malaya, Australia, and Polynesia.

Properties
Rubbing against the stem can cause a burning sensation.

Parts used
Leaves.

Uses
Edibility
- Seeds eaten raw or cooked.
- Flesh is reportedly edible.
Folkloric
- Decoction of leaves adminstered to women after childbirth.
Others
• Rope: Vine is used for tying purposes, as in construction of fish corrals. Bark fiber can be made into rope; used as string for dillybags and fishing nets.

Studies
• Calcium Crystals: In a study of mature leaves of nine species of Moraceae, Malaisia scandens was observed to have both calcium oxalate and calcium carbonate crystals. The presence or absence of crystals is one of the important characters for understanding evolutionary relationships of plant species. (2)

Availability
Wild-crafted.