Macaranga tanarius

 Salvaged, What we grow  No Responses »
Jun 302013
 

Photo specimen : Wild trees

Specimen height : 4-6 meters

Habitats : Coastal thickets, creekbanks, grasslands, roadsides, wastelands

Local name : Binunga

Botanical name : Macaranga tanarius

Family : Euphorbiaceae

Fruiting season : December to January

Traits : Drought tolerant; Fast-growing; Low to medium altitude tree; Semi-decidious; Shade tolerant; Small tree; Tolerant of infertile soil

Recommendations : Coastal protection; Cut and carry fodder; Erosion control; Fallow improvement; Farms; Green manure; Home gardens; Landscaping; Living fence; Living trellis; Nurse tree; Ornamental tree; Paper & pulp tree plantations; Pioneer species for reforetation purposes; Public spaces; Riparian management; Roadside tree; Shade tree; Urban greening; Wildcrafting

Used for : Fruits added to palm juice to improve the quality of sugar produced; Bark and leaves are used locally in the preparation of Basi wine; Resin or gum from the bark is used as glue in making musical instruments; Black dye is obtained from the leaves; Tanin from the bark is used to toughen fishnets from seawater exposure; Leaves as cattle fodder; Pulpwood; Firewood and charcoal

Native range : India, East Asia, Southeast Asia (including the Philippines) to Australia

National conservation status : Not threatened

Further reading :

Revised Lexicon of Philippine Trees (J. Rojo)

Tropical & Subtropical Trees (M. Barwick)

World Agroforestry http://www.worldagroforestry.org/af/treedb/AFTPDFS/Macaranga_tanarius.pdf (900)

Native wild edible : Rourea minor

 Native wild edibles, Salvaged  No Responses »
Jun 282013
 

Materials identified by : Ulysses Ferreras (Field botanist)

Photo specimen : Wild

Specimen height : 4-6 meters

Habitat : Creekbank thickets

Local name : Kamagsa

Botanical name : Rourea minor

Family : Connaraceae

Fruiting season : April to June

Traits : Evergreen; Low to medium altitude species; Woody climber

Recommendations : Backyards; Farms; Fruit collector’s; Home gardens; Landscaping; Large gardens; Medicinal plant; Ornamental; Public spaces; Urban greening; Vertical gardens; Wildcrafting

Used for : Edible fruit; Bark, root, seed and leaves are used in traditional medicine

Native range : Tropical Africa, Madagascar, India, Sri Lanka, China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia (including the Philippines), Australia and neighbouring Pacific islands

National conservation status : Not threatened

Further reading :

E-Prosea - Rourea minor http://www.proseanet.org/prosea/e-prosea_detail.php?frt=&id=1281

Flora of China - Rourea minor http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200011842

Wild Edible Plants of Assam (Sri Brahmananda Patiri & Sri Ananta Borah) http://assamforest.in/publication/wildEdible_plantsAssam.pdf

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Mucuna pruriens var. pruriens

 Salvaged  No Responses »
Jun 272013
 

Photo specimen : Wild

Specimen height : 4-5 meters

Habitats : Creek banks, roadsides, scrublands and thickets

Local name : Bolokabok

Trade names : Velvet bean, Cowitch

Botanical name : Mucuna pruriens var. pruriens

Family : Fabaceae - Faboideae

Fruiting season : November to January

Traits : Annual climber; Fast-growing; Nitrogen-fixing; Shade tolerant; Tolerant of infertile soil

Recommendations : Collector’s; Fallow improvement; Green manure; Cut and carry fodder; Ornamental vine

Used for : Various parts are used in traditional medicine; Forage and silage

Native range : India, China, Southeast Asia (including the Philippines)

National conservation status : Not threatened

(Note : var. utilis for non-stinging, cultivated forms and var. pruriens for stinging, wild forms)

Further reading :

Tropical Forages - Mucuna pruriens http://www.tropicalforages.info/key/Forages/Media/Html/Mucuna_pruriens.htm (1621)

Melanolepsis multiglandulosa

 Salvaged  No Responses »
Jun 202013
 

Photo specimen : Wild

Specimen height : 4-6 meters

Habitats : Open grasslands, creek banks, roadsides and scrublands

Local name : Alim

Botanical name : Melanolepsis multiglandulosa

Family : Euphorbiaceae

Fruiting season : Fruits observed from February to March

Traits : Deciduous; Drought tolerant; Fast-growing; Low to medium altitude tree; Small tree; Tolerant of infertile soil

Recommendations : Landscaping; Living fence; Living trellis; Medicinal plant; Nurse tree; Pioneer species for reforestation purposes; Public spaces; Riparian management; Roadside tree; Urban greening; Wildcrafting

Used for: Wood for shoes; Bark and leaves used in traditional medicine; Firewood

Native range : Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, The Philippines, New Guinea, Marianas Islands

National conservation status : Not threatened

Further reading :

Malesian Euphorbiaceae Descriptions (Flora Malesiana)
http://www.nationaalherbarium.nl/euphorbs/specM/Melanolepis.htm

Revised Lexicon of Philippine Trees (J. Rojo) (718)

Chionanthus ramiflorus

 Salvaged  No Responses »
Jun 192013
 

Photo specimen : Wild

Specimen height : 6-8 meters

Habitat : Creek banks

Local name : Karaksan

Botanical name : Chionanthus ramiflorus

Family : Oleaceae

Fruiting season : April to June

Traits : Evergreen; Fast growing; Shade tolerant; Water-logging tolerant

Recommendations : Landscaping; Living fence; Living trellis; Public spaces; Riparian mangement; Urban greening

Used for : Reports of flowers being edible; Essential oil (from fruit or seed?); Light construction timber; Firewood and charcoal

Native range : India, Bangladesh, Andaman Islands, China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia (including the Philippines), New Guinea, Australia and Solomon islands

National conservation status : Not threatened

Possible threats : Clearing of woodlands for agricultural, commercial or residential use; Firewood and charcoal production

Further reading :

Biodiversity and Local Perceptions on the Edge of a Conservation Area , Khe Tran Village, Vietnam (M. Boissière, I. Basuki, P. Koponen, M. Wan, D. Sheil) http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/publications/pdf_files/BBoissiere0601.pdf

Co’s Digital Flora of the Philippines - Oleaceae http://www.philippineplants.org/Families/Oleaceae.html

Flora of Taiwan, 2nd Edition Vol. 4 - Oleaceae (YANG, Yuen-Po and LU, Sheng-You) (pages 129-130) or at Plants of Taiwan http://tai2.ntu.edu.tw/ebook/ebookpage.php?book=Fl.%20Taiwan%202nd%20edit.&volume=4&page=129 (568)

The casual visitors

 Our Blogs  No Responses »
Jun 082013
 

When trees are not our priority for the day we just walk the periphery of the farm to see what critter might show-up. And often the birds are the first to give. The casual visitors became regulars and some even set up home among our fruiting wild trees or wide Cogon fields.

(513)

Trema orientalis

 What we grow  No Responses »
Jun 062013
 


Photo specimen : Wild

Specimen height : 8-14 meters

Habitats : Open slopes, grasslands, river banks

Local name : Anabiong

Trade name : Pigeonwood

Botanical name : Trema orientalis

Family : Ulmaceae

Fruiting season : March to July

Traits : Drought tolerant; Evergreen; Fast-growing; Have extensive root sytem; Medium-sized tree; Spreading crown; Tolerant of infertile soil; Wind hardy

Recommendations : Cut and carry fodder; Erosion control; Fallow improvement; Farms; Green manure; Landscaping; Large avenues; Large gardens; Light shade for crops; Living fence; Living trellis; Medicinal plant; Nurse tree; Ornamental tree; Paper & pulp tree plantations; Pioneer species for reforestation purposes; Public spaces; Riparian management; Roadside tree; Shade tree; Urban greening; Wildcrafting; Windbreak

Used for : Bark and leaves are used in traditional medicine; Bast fibre made into rope; Wood used for paneling, boards, wooden shoes, containers, toys and novelties; Bark and leaves yield black and coffee-coloured dye; Leaves used as animal fodder; Fallen leaves used as mulch; Pulpwood; Firewood and charcoal

Origin : Tropical Africa, India, Sri Lanka, China, Taiwan; Southeast Asia (including the Philippines), New Guinea, Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia

National conservation status : Not threatened in the Philippines

Possible threat : Clearing of woodlands for agricultural, commercial or residential use

Further reading :

AgroForestryTree Database (Trema orientalis)http://www.worldagroforestry.org/sea/Products/AFDbases/af/asp/SpeciesInfo.asp?SpID=1654

Philippine Woods : Principal Uses, Distribution & Equivalent Woods in Asia Pacific (A. Ella, A. Tongacan, R. Escobin & F. Pitargue)

Revised Lexicon of Philippine Trees (J. Rojo) (619)

Gymnosporia spinosa var. spinosa

 Salvaged  No Responses »
Jun 052013
 

Materials identified by : Ulysses Ferreras (Field Botanist)

Photo specimen : Wild

Specimen height : 2-4 meters

Habitat : Dry thickets and open grasslands

 

Local name : Amumut

Botanical name : Gymnosporia spinosa var. spinosa

Family : Celastraceae

Traits : Deciduous; Drought tolerant; Grassfire tolerant; Large shrub to small tree; Much-branched; Tolerant of infertile soil

Recommendations : Erosion control; Hedging; Living trellis; Pioneer species for reforestation purposes; Public spaces; Urban greening

Used for : Fuelwood and charcoal

Origin : Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia (including the Philippines), New Guinea and Australia

National conservation status : Not threatened

Possible threats : Clearing of woodlands for agricultural, commercial or residential use

(Note : Synonymous to Maytenus emarginata)

Further reading :

Reinstatement of Gymnosporia (Celastraceae):
implications for the Flora Malesiana region (Marie Jordaan and A.E. van Wyk) http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/72714/Tel10Jor155.pdf

Revised Lexicon of Philippine Trees (J. Rojo) (606)