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EUPHORBIACEAE
18. Ma Hot us philippinensis (Lam.) Muell.—Arg. in Linnaea 34: 196. 1865. (Fig. 208).
Rottlera tinctoria Roxb.—Rottlera aurantiaca Hook. & Arn.—Rottlera affinis Hassk.—Rottiera
montana Wall.—Rottlera mollis Wall.—Rottlera philippinensis Scheff.—Rottlera manitensis
Klotz.—Croton phillipense Lamk.— Croton punctatus Retz.—Croton coccineus Vahl—Croton
montanus Willd.— Croton distans Wall.— Croton cascavilloides Rauesch.—Echinus phillippinensis
Bail!.
Engl. Monkey Face Tree; Sinh. Hamparandella, Hamparila, Hdmpirila; Tarn-
Avam, Kabilam, Kabilappodi, Kamala, Kambosam, Kapila, Kopilapodi, Kungu'mam, Kurangumanjanatti,
Manjanai, Suvanagesari, Tavattai, Tiruchalai; Hindi Kamala, Kambhal,
Kambila, Kamela, Kamila, Kamud, Raini, Rauni, Rohni, Roini, Roli, Rora, Ruin, Rulu;
Sans. Bahupushpa, Chandra, Kampilla, Kampillaka, Kapila, K ark as ha, Kesara, Laghupatraka,
Lohitanga, Madhuka, Nadivasa, Pikaksha, Punnaga, Punnagakesara, Punnama, Raktachurnaka,
Raktanga, Raktaphala, Ranjaka, Rechanaka, Rechani, Rechi, Rochana.
A moderate-sized tree, 6—10 m tall, much branched with a smooth' bark and scurfy and
fulvous pubescent young parts; leaves simple, alternate, 8—17 cm long, 4—8 cm broad,
variable, ovate—lanceolate, rhomboid-ovate or linear—lanceolate, acuminate, rounded or acute
at base, entire, glabrous on the upper surface when mature, finely tomentose, pale or white
beneath, thickly sprinkled with minute crimson glands, strongly 3-nerved with veins prominent
on the lower surface; petioles 2.5—4 cm long, cylindrical, fulvous—pubescent with 2, small,
sessile glands at the summit or at base of leaf; flowers regular, small, unisexual, apetalous,
dioecious, males in clusters, sessile in erect, terminal spikes which are usually several together
and often longer than leaves and female flowers stalked in short racemes, both
covered with ferruginous tomentum; male flowers: globose; sepals 3—5, usually 4,
somewhat thick, lanceolate, valvate, densely rusty—pubescent; stamens 18—25, distinct, much
exserted, anthers dorsifixed, cells small, often widely separated without-a pistillode; female
flowers: sepals 3—5, ovate, valvate; ovary superior, glandular, covered with red, stellate,glandular
hairs, 2—3-locular with a single ovule in each loculus, styles 3, simple, papillose: fruit
a trigonous—globular capsule, 0.8 cm long, lobes rounded, smooth but covered with a scurf
of minute easily detached deep red.particles, dehiscing septicidally into 3 valves; seeds nearly
globose, black without a caruncle. t
Flowers during August and September.
Illustrations. Beddome, Flor. Sylvat. pi. 289. 1868—73; Bentley and Trimen, Med-
Plants, pi. 236. 1880; Roxburgh, PI. Corom. pi. 168. 1798; Rheede, Hort. Mai. 5: pis. 21—24
1678—1703; Herb. Peradeniya, drawing.
Distribution. Grows from Abyssinia to S. China and Formosa through India, Ceylon-
Burma and Malay Islands extending southwards to New South Wales and Philippine Islands,
In Ceylon, it is rather common in both the moist and dry low-country up to 2,500 feet altitude.
India. Sikkim: J. D. Hooker. Himal. Bor. Occ. T. Thomson. Behar, J. D. Hooker. East
Bengal, Herb. Griffith 4766, Kew Distribution 1863—4. Assam Jenkins. Manipur,' Metaiphum,
Watt 6076, Feb. 1882. Malabar, Concan, etc. Stocks, Law, etc. North Canara: Talbot, 1880;
Wallich 7839, Dec. 1826. Maisor and Carnatic, G. Thomson. Mt. Nilghiri and Kurg: G. Thomson.
Chittagong. King's Collector 81, Oct. 1866; King's Collector 315. Pen. Ind. Or. Herb. Wight
2628, Kew Distribution 1866—8. Ceylon. North Central Prov., Ritigala, Herb. Peradeniya, July
1887; Willis, March 1905. Eastern. Prov., Trincomalee, Thwaites CP. 2103. Central Prov.,
Peradeniya, Herb. Peradeniya, 1900; Maturata, A. M. Silva May, 1906; Haputale, Herb. Peradeniya,
Sept. 1890. Uva Prov., Bibile, J. M. Silva, Aug. 1924.
Composition. The leaves contain an alkaloid. The red powder obtained from the glands
and hairs which cover the fruit contains rottlerin, mallotoxin and kamalin. The seeds contain
a fixed oil, camul oil and a bitter glucoside. The bark has tannin.
Uses. This red powder is used as an anthelmintic for expulsion of tape-worm
and other intestinal worms and to remove leprous eruptions. The leaves and bark are used as
poultices on cutaneous diseases. The powdered seeds are also taken internally as an anthelmintic
and a cure for itch. The root is ground into a paste and applied on regions
affected by painful articular rheumatism.
The capsule yields a dye which gives a permanent, rich, flame colour.
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