malva nut is the seed of scaphium scaphigerum and has long been used as a traditional medicine in south east asia. this paper reports on the extraction and characterisation of gums from malva nut seed. sequential extraction with water, 0.05 m hcl, and 0.05 m naOH solutions resulted in 1, 6 and 20% gum yield, respectively, based on the dry weight of the seeds.