The Palawan Cherry Dilemma in Palawan

The Palawan cherries are again in bloom! I have seen it flower in Manila Seedling bank for how many years back. So when I finally got to see them in bloom right smack in Palawan, it was double excitement. As soon as our van drove out of the airport driveway, the pink-flowered trees appeared one by one, lining the main avenue going to the city center. The trees were jampacked with the heaping clusters of flowers which most of the time over power whatever leaf remnants there were present.

But seeing more than just one specimen in Palawan, I perceive there are more than just one plant considered by residents as the balayong, or Palawan cherry. There are at least two varieties. In the past week that I was in Puerto Princesa and the succeeding towns up north, I encountered two types of trees which locals call the local cherry. One is similar to trees lining Manila Seedling. Another had a darker shade of pink. But both are heavily blossoming at this very moment.

I am not yet sure which of the two is Cassia x Palawan cherry or Cassia nodosa, both of which are the pinned botanical names of the balayong. I am also not certain if they are pure species or just cultivars. It is even argued if the balayong is in fact a native tree in Palawan. The late Leonard Co even did not consider balayong native to Palawan. Yes, there are lots of the tree present in Palawan mainland. But the individuals I saw were growing mostly in inhabited places. There were also some growing amidst wooded areas but also very proximic to public roadways. I asked one local if the trees in their area were natural, he said most of them were planted when they paved the main highway. They are even sometimes dispersed with mahoganies and knife acacias which also are truly non-natives of Palawan and the Philippines.

The first five photos are of Palawan cherry suspect no 1. The last 3 photos are of suspect no. 2. Both are very fine landscape specimens, may it be in Palawan or any other city. Just have to make sure that if it is not native it will not creep into the ecology of our fragile forests and disrupt its balance.