Gen info
- Mallotus is a genus of the spurge family Euphorbiaceae. It was first described as a genus in 1790. It has about 150 species of dioecious trees or shrubs. (8)
- Mallotus floribundus is a tree in the family Euphorbiaceae, in the Stylanthus section, native to Southeast Asia, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. (9)
- Historical snippet: Swiss botanist Johann Müller (Jean Müller) described the species in 1864.

Botany
• Tula-tula is a tree that attains a height of 10 meters or less. Leaves are alternate, peltate orbicular or suborbicular-ovate, 7 to 16 centimeters long, 5 to 15 centimeters wide; the apex is pointed, smooth above but glaucous beneath, with hairy glands on the axils of the base. Flowers are small. Male flowers are borne on spikes 7.5 to 10 centimeters long; the female ones occur on elongated racemes. Capsules are about 2 centimeters in diameter, nearly spherical, with thickly crustaceous and hairy cocci.

• Mallotus floribundus grows a small tree, up to 18m, occasionally 25m, tall. Trunk is mostly straight with a many branching bush crown. Its bark can occur as smooth to fissured, with lenticels. Leaves are (sometimes ovate) to broadly ovate to orbicular, with an irregular margin (sometimes slightly dentate to crenate. The staminate (male) flowers are white to yellowish, while the pistillate (female) flowers are pale green to whitish. (9)

Distribution
- Native to the Philippines.
- In  primary and secondary forests at low and medium altitudes.  It grows mainly in open areas, such as river banks, alongside roads, in gaps and clearings, and in open fields. (8)
- Also native to Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Cambodia, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam. (7)

Properties
- Study has shown antioxidant and cytotoxicity properties.

Parts used
Flowers, roots.

Uses
Edibility
- In Cambodia,  leaves used in infusion that is drunk as tea. (9)
- Fragrant flowers used to flavor food.
Folkloric
- No reported folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.
- In Java, the aromatic flowers are mixed with rice flour in making face-powders and for scenting medicinal powders. Also, used for making toilet powder.
- In the Malay Peninsula, root decoction used after childbirth; also, for fevers, stomachaches and cholera. (9)
- Decoction of plants used as lotion for yaws.
- Leaf decoction used for cleaning wounds.
Others
- Wood: Shrinkage on air-drying is very high with moderate risk of splitting, insect attack, and staining, with slight risk of cupping, bowing and end-checking. In Sumatra, the tough wood used for making small objects.
- Scent: Male flowers are used with rice powder as scented toilet powders. (6)
- Natural dye: Mentioned by the Byak ethnic community as one of eight species of plants as source of dye material for handycraft products. (11)

Studies
• Antioxidant: Study evaluated 39 Mallotus samples, from at least 17 different species, for antioxidant activity. Only nine samples showed high antioxidant activity (%DPPH rem <30). Mallotus floribundus leaves showed to be highly antioxidant with %DPPH of 6.4. (4)
• Cytotoxicity / Antioxidant: In a study of 33 methanolic extracts of Mallotus sp, extracts for cytotoxicity using WI-38 and HeLa cells and antioxidant activity using DPPH. M. floribundus showed 74.3 ± 2.6% viability & at 50 µg/mL for WI-38 cells, 73.8 ± 6.8 viability % at 50 µg/mL for HeLa cells, and 6.4 ± 0.2 percentage of remaining DPPH at 20 µg/mL. (5)

Availability
Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Flora of Thailand / Euphorbiaceae / Mallotus / P C van Welzen, S E C Sierra et al / National Herbarium Nederland
(3)
Mallotus floribundus (Blume) Muell. Arg. / Vernacular names / GLOBinMED
(4)
Potential antioxidant compounds in Mallotus species fingerprints. Part I: Indication, using linear multivariate calibration techniques / C. Tistaerta, B. Dejaeghera, N. Nguyen Hoaia,b, G. Chataignéc, C. Rivièrec, V. Nguyen Thi Hongb,c, M. Chau Vanb, J. Quetin-Leclercqc, Y. Vander Heydena / Analytica Chimica Acta 649 (2009) 24–32 / doi:10.1016/j.aca.2009.07.020
(5)
Identification by LC-ESI-MS of Flavonoids Responsible for the Antioxidant Properties of Mallotus Species from Vietnam / Van N.T. Hong, Céline Rivière, Quang T. Hong, Gabrielle Chataigne, Nam N. Hoai,
Bieke Dejaegher, Christophe Tistaert, Thanh N.T. Kim, Kiem P. Van, Yvan Vander Heyden, Minh C. Van and Joëlle Quetin-Leclercq / Natural Products Communication, 2011; 6(6): pp 813-818
(6)
Mallotus floribundus / Ken Fern / Useful Tropical Plants
(7)
Mallotus floribundus / KEW: Plants of the World Online
(8)
Mallotus / Wikipedia
(9)
Mallotus floribundus / Wikipedia
(10)
Mallotus floribundus / PROSEA
(11)
Natural dyes used by the byak tribe and its prospects as raw materials for the natural dyes industry / A Fatubun, CME Susanti, NI Sinaga, JF Wanma, MM Lea / IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, Volume 1192, Issue 1, id.012023, 12 pp / DOI: 10.1088.1755-1315/1192/1/012023

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