Quick Post: My valayvayan already flowered. It is one of the seedlings I got from my 2009 trip to Batanes. It has an anecdote attached to it.
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| Bell-like flowers |
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| Flower similar to Tabebuia |
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| Radermachera pinnata |
I first saw valayvayan in the compound of Basco High School. I did not want to bring home a seedling of this nice tree even though I saw it in flower. I thought it was Tabebuia which is not a Philippine native. When I requested seedlings from the ENRO office, it was actually a DENR personnel who suggested to me to bring home a seedling of valayvayan for my thesis, and he plucked out a wildling growing out of a pavement in the DENR backyard. I took it home hesistantly, barerooted, just as a good gesture. But when I got home here in Manila, Leonard Co promptly identified my 'Tabebuia' seedling as Radermachera fenicis (now R. pinnata), which is a bignonia/tabebuia native counterpart. So I quickly planted the uprooted specimen in a pot hoping it will recover. More than a year after my trip, my accidental valayvayan has already rewarded me with its bell-like flowers! Thank heavens for my resource person in DENR for shoving this specimen into my luggage!
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| Valayvayan tree at the Basco school |
3 comments:
Wow, congratulations, it is a very nice one! May i ask if those Podocarpus being sold in nurseries here in MM, and very commonly used now by landscapers are the same species as that found in Batanes? Are those in Batanes native to the Philippines. I've been to Batanes 2x and i saw many plants there not seen in Luzon.
there are 2 types sold here in Manila. I was told that the bigger one id indeed the species from batanes, Podocarpus costalis.
Thank you for posting this. I lived in Batanes for over 6 years (1988 till 1994) and I was given a seedling of Valayvayan. I was told it is a good tree for orchids to cling on. I have wondered for years what its scientific name is. Now, Dr. Leonard Co (God bless him) gave me the answer through you. I have to take better care of the tree. I brought it home to Negros Occidental. When it bears seeds, I will distribute it to the members of our group: Handbook of Philippine Plants and Flowers that my late mathematician brother Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio (UP Clark Professor) organized. Thank you again for the precious blog article. God bless Philippine tree lovers.
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