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.

Distribution
- In forests at low and medium altitudes.
- Also occurs in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, New Guinea..

Parts used
Flowers, roots.

Uses
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.
- Decoction of plants used as lotion for yaws.
- Lead decoction used for cleaning wounds.
Others
- Wood: In Sumatra, the tough wood used for making small objects.
- Scent: Male flowers are used with rice powder as scented toilet powders. (6)

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 percentage of remaining DPPH, M. floribundus showed 74.3±2.6%, 73.8 ± 6.8, and 6.4 ± 0.2, respectively. (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