Pseuderanthemum bicolor
Family: Acanthaceae
Common Name: Limang-sugat, which means five wounds!, also called Shooting Star
Origin: introduced plant from Malaysia
Reference: Stuartxchange and Co’s Digital Flora Facebook Group
- quite a dramatic common name — Five Wounds!
- Lydia Robledo said “This is the larval host of a nice butterfly, I forgot now which. Will check. Just group them in one area away from your organized garden. They can be pretty invasive. I have them in my garden. I leave out a few in case the female butterfly is visiting.”
- Derek Cabactulan said, “and now a pantropic naturalized weed”
- I found this growing in the shade


weeds and other plants
We have lots of this too! I love how the red center, looks like a peacock!
At first I thought there were very few of this. Now I see it all over!
Where are you from?
Hi, I’m from Manila, Philippines. I spend part of the week in the farm in Batangas and part in Manila.
Lots of these grow in our backyard as weeds. We call this plant zuma..and is very effective, as I tried for wasp sting, centipede and arachnid bites. My friend tried it for dog bite.
Thank you for the info! That explains the name. It also grows wild in our place. Nice to know what it’s used for. Thanks!!
you’re welcome. May I add, I also tried just recently the crushed leaves for my very itchy finger which I guess the start of an eczema…and it stopped.
At present, I am doing a study on its anti-fungal effect.