My Long List of Acknowledgements

Sorry if I have not been blogging for quite some time. Ever since January, I have been writing my thesis book and it has surmounted into 400 pages. So whatever free time I had, I devoted to doing non-writing activities, particularly playing Farmville over at Facebook (you should see my farm! hehehe.). But I am happy to announce that after 4 months of prose writing and practically 3 years of documenting various Philippine trees, I officially finished my thesis, signed sealed and delivered last April 5, 2010. In time for the last day of submission of grades for graduating students.

Acknowledgements:

In doing the research for this thesis I have met a lot of people who gave me a good direction in tackling this vast subject of native trees and shrubs. They have generously shared their expertise and knowledge and inspired me to finally finish this native landscape tree evaluation. They were my resource persons but they eventually became my friends and mentors. I would like to acknowledge them for their continuous support.

• To Monette Flores, who inspired this researcher to explore native trees. It started with just a simple conversation in Amarela Resort, Bohol about the native kalumpang in Palawan.

• Professor Mary Ann Espina for giving me the direction to pursue a tree evaluation topic for L Arch 202.

• My adviser, Prof. Dan Villajuan, for supplying the process and the idea for my methodology.

• Botanist Leonard Co. for religiously identifying the plant pictures and samples I brought back from plant trips.

• Professor Ed Gomez of the Marine Science Institute for sharing the knowledge, passion for native trees and the numerous pictures I took of his collections in UP Diliman and his Alabang residence.

• Mr. Emiliano Sotalbo for numerous conversations about his plant experiences and know-how.

• The staff of the UP Diliman Arboretum, for directing me to the initial specimens for this evaluation.

• Mr. Ray Ong, Editor of the Philippine Gardens, Philippine Star for introducing me to Himbabao and continuously answering my inquiries about native trees.

• Mr. Mike Asinas of Ayala land for sharing his passion on Philippine trees used in urban landscape design and for the extensive tour of the Ayala Land Nursery in Alabang.

• Ms. Ime Sarmiento of Hortica Filipina for pictures of mangkono and magtungaw, and the tour of her private native plant nursery.

• Prof. Roberto Coronel for sharing his expertise in Philippine fruiting trees and shrubs, and for letting me take pics of his beautiful trees in his farm.

• Ronald Achacoso for the constant sharing of information and the very fruitful exploration of the Zambales hills, the forest areas of Real, in Quezon and the plant hunting trips to Laguna.

• The Achacoso family for their hospitality in their Zambales farm.

• Atty Doy Nunag for the hospitality in Amarela Resort and insights on Buchanania arborescens, Sterculia comosa, and other coastal Bohol trees.

• Architect Chi Victorino for sharing the passion for plants and for including me in her trips to Bohol and Boracay.

• Susan Topacio and her Jardin Isabel staff for their insights on the flora of Surigao and native tree cultivation.

• Ma. Cecilia Leonor Gendrano and Cathy Fontanilla for accompanying me in several trips, namely the Pahiyas in Lucban, Quezon, karagumoi hunting in Majayjay and Luisiana in Laguna, Davao, and island hopping in Batanes.

• Anthony Arbias for the know-how on tree ferns and endless sharing of his native tree pictures.

• The members of the Philippine Native Plant Conservation Society for letting me use their resources and references, particularly George Yao, Ernie Alvaran, Edwin Tadiosa and Ressie Navarro.

• Bob Servinio of the Philippine Women’s University faculty for providing additional plant sketches for this evaluation.

• Mr. Lil Nunag for sharing his knowledge on traditional Bohol uses of trees, particularly the ones used as lumber.

• Ka Berto in Amarela Resort for giving me the Visayan vernacular names of the trees in Libaong Beach, Panglao.

• Mr Archie Po, Ms. Millie Artillaga, Capt. Jack Dionisio and the staff of Boracay helicopter adventures for their hospitality in Boracay and the aerial oculars of the island.

• Ms. Marian Nash, Mr. Rene Bello and the residents of Bgy. Manlalambay for their hospitality in our Popototan Island trip in Busuanga, Palawan.

• Professor Ace Dimanlig and his L Arch 255 class for sharing the experiences in Popototan and assisiting me in collecting data in Kipil and Danlep beaches.
  
• The Ong family for their hospitatlity in Villa Felicidad, Silang, Cavite and for introducing me to lipote.

• Joey Diaz and the staff of Bantay Kalikasan for the tour of the La Mesa Eco Park and the La Mesa Watershed.

• Irene and Linus Aldovino for accompanying me in my first trip to explore Ilocos region

• Ermileen de Jesus and Juliet Medina for accompanying me to Pagudpud, Bangui, and Laoag in Ilocos Norte.

• Minnie and Albert Rosel and the Hathaway staff for the trips to Imelda Falls in Majayjay, Laguna and Puerto Galera in Mindoro

• Heritage Park staff for the trip to Caliraya Lake in Lumban, Laguna, which eventually led to locating specimens of Artocarpus blancoi, Dillenia suffruticosa, Dillenia philippinensis, Fagraea racemosa and Antidesma ghaesembillia.

• Lito Echaluse for his accounts on the uses of some native trees from Palawan and Bataan, like dita, kalumpang and malobago. Also for assisting in test planting the native trees in Heritage Park.

• Ponchit Enrile for introducing me to samuyao and biasong. Also for the tidbits on Philippine plants and some balling and tranplanting guidelines
• Bebong Onari and Vicki Jimenez for the tour of their gardens in Davao City

• Dr. Ron Serrano, for facilitating a wonderful exploration trip in Davao giving us an overview of eastern Mindanao flora.

• Mr. El Roos for letting me take pictures of native specimens in his collection.

• The UP Mountaineers, especially Fredd Ochavo, for facilitating the flora exploration trip in the Ipo Dam watershed and for sharing the passion.

• Wally Suarez for additional identification of my pictures and sharing his knowledge on the distribution and behavior of some trees

• Dr. Edwino Fernando for giving me some additional plant genera to look into and identifying my Pinanga pictures.

• Dr. Maribel Agoo for the information on the Batanes date palm and Philippine cycads.

• Ulysses Ferreras for additional information and identification of plants

• Dr.Monina Siar for showing us the impressive specimens of Medinilla magnifica in UPLB.

• Reynold Sioson of the Rare Fruit Society of the Philippines for sharing the knowledge on fruiting native trees and the wonderful pictures of some fruiting specimens.

• Melanie Schori for letting me use some pictures she took of trees in the Philippine countryside

• Jimson and Lenna Ong, and Tita Magno for the samuyao specimens from Cebu and its cultivation information.

• Dr. Domingo Madulid for answering some of my plant emails.

• Ms. Cita Lakdan of Carolina’s Bamboo garden for the tour of their bamboo grove.
• Prof. Susan Aquino Ong for sharing insights on some UPLB plants.

• Ms. Jo Quimpo of Tree Station for insights on tree cultivation and the tree balling and transfer guidelines for Casuarina equisetifolia, Eucalyptus deglupta, Canarium ovatum, and some other species.

• Edna Belleza Fortadez for sharing her insights on Cordia dichotoma and Canarium ovatum.

• Grace Edralin Servino for accompanying me in several trips to UPLB.

• Prof. Nori Palarca and his L Arch 263 and 260 classes for sharing the experience exploring the forest reserves of Mt. Makiling.

• Professor Nelson Pampolina for identifying the specimens of Ayangile, and for the plant tour of the UP Forest Reserve.

• The Staff of the Makiling Botanic Garden for sharing some information regarding Tindalo, Betis, Amugis and some other plant species.

• The Staff of Pook ni Maria Makiling for their hospitality.

• Martin Zoller for letting us take pictures of the native trees in the Botolan Wildlife Park

• William Granert and the staff of the Bohol Biodiversity Center and Dipterocarp Nursery for the tour of their botanic garden and nurseries.

• Mr. Mody Manlicmot for some insights about Dracaena and a tour of his native bonsai species

• To the Countryside landscape class of Prof. Nori Palarca for sharing the experience of the Laguna Lake trip.

• Edward Agdeppa for sharing some of his photos and insights about Ilocos trees and the trees in his collection.
• Serapion Metilla for his insights on Osmoxylon lineare and some attractive landscape species.

• Christine Roxas of Ecosystems Research and Development Research for information on native bamboo species.

• Our cook Edison and Nana Juaning of Samar who introduced me to Diospyros ferrea or bantulinao and giving me specimens to test and observe.

• Cindy Layusa of World Wildlife Fund for a copy of the Calayan list of Flora.

• Wendy Regalado and the Philippine Horticultural Society for giving me a venue to discuss native trees and learn more about them from other people.

• Popo San Pascual for the tour of his Tagaytay residence and the impressive native specimens in his garden.

• Mr George Mendoza for the tour of garden and for sharing his rare veriegated and beutifully grown native specimens.

• The Panagbenga 2010 organizers for their hospitality and the Baguio Country Club staff for the chance to document Cyathea contaminans and Pinus kesiya in the club’s premises.

• Leila Agudo and the Agudo Family of Ivana town, Batanes for their hospitality and the shared insights on some Batanes native trees like chipohu and voyavoi.

• The Ivana town government for sharing with us a memorable Ivatan Christmas meal after our tiring trip to Sabtang Island.

• Teacher Macky in Sabtang for leading us to where the Phoenix loureirii populations are.

• The staff of DENR and ENRO offices in Basco, Batanes for accommodating my inquiries about the flora of Batanes. Also for facilitating the proper documents for me to bring back a few specimens to Manila for study.
• The followers of my thesis blog, www.pinoytrees.blogspot.com, for sharing their ideas and insights on the use of native trees for landscape.

• The people from the Rarefruits Society of the Philippines for their insights on local fruiting trees.

• The people at flickr.com who shared their one of a kind tree pictures.

• Prof. R. B. Santos for the 3 elements of thesis writing which I wrote on a post it over my bed.

• Professors Zeny Galingan and Noel Aleta for consultations and insights about the thesis.

• Chris Layusa for the coffee and movie breaks, perpetually reminding me about the proper thesis format, formatting my results tables and proof-reading part of this thesis.

• Faith Varona, Eden Saroupia and Dino Delotavo for sharing their expertise and insights on thesis writing.

• My fellow landscape students Sharon, Cissy, Ate Julie, Nappy, Osias, Rhia, Fred, Caster, Mau, Grace Paj, Cathe, April and the younger ones for the help, food and thesis diversions.

• My friends Ibay Sicam and Anabelle Quilantang for introducing me to Farmville, which kept me sane in writing the thesis book.

• My family for giving their undying support. My dad and my sister Cecil for driving me to some of the sites to sight the native trees.

• My departed friend Maricon Cenabre who urged me to take my graduate studies and finish this thesis.

• To God and my departed Mom, who kept me always inspired while working on a plant-related thesis.

To all people who have helped me in qualifying, sampling, photo-documenting, verifying, identifying, researching, tabulating and cataloguing the 75 tree and shrub species in my evaluation, my deepest gratitude. I could not have finished this thesis without all of you.

The March of Flowers

I was given the opportunity to judge the floats in this year's Panagbenga. We woke up early to view the flower displays, at their best and before the sun took its toll on the blooms. We had the best seat in the house, being at front row of the parade.

To be honest, I was expecting the floats to be crude. But when we got to Session Road where the floats were parked, I was surprised and amazed how beautiful most of the floats were. The Panagbenga this year is sure worthy to be called a festival of flowers. Though there were less native species exhibited in the floats, Filipino ingenuity and creativity was very obvious.

Finally!!!

At laaast!!! I have finally defended my thesis. From now on I could blog about plants in a leisurely manner (as if I have not been doing it, even though i was in thesis mode). To everyone who helped, a very big thank you. But I still have to finish my thesis book to finally say it is over and done with. But more blogs about plants still to come. hopefully for years even after my thesis.

The Lumbangs are in Flower!

Quick Post! If you live in Fairview and has wondered what those silver leaved trees along Regalado and Mindanao avenues are, the answer is lumbang or Aleurites moluccana. The leaves are more silver right now because they are complimented by its white tiny flowers.

And I Finally Came Across Ligas!

Have you ever heard what Cruz na Ligas in U.P. was named after? I always thought the ligas meant ligaw, or lost in English. So I thought the place was named after a lost cross...or something like that. Apparently ligas is a name of a very handsome but slightly dangerous tree, Semecarpus cuneiformis.

When I started looking for trees in UP Diliman, one of the first I asked Mr. Emiliano Sotalbo was the location of this arborescent species, which the Cruz na Ligas name suggests should be present in the campus. But the only specimen Mr. Sotalbo knew was located in the Arboretum, and when we reached the place where it should have been, the ligas was nowhere to be found. He suspects that the tree was fallen, either by forces of nature or in human hands. So ligas has eluded me eversince.Yesterday I stumbled upon a specimen in Novaliches, at the La Mesa watershed. Leonard Co pointed it out to us among the brush.

Ligas is quite a small tree but somehow similar in appearance to kasoy (Anacardium occidentale, which is not native). The fruit is said to be edible, but some parts of the tree could be quite a pill to handle. I have not yet confirmed if it is the sap that is an irritant, which could inflict quite an uncomfortable rash to its victims. But then again it is a member of the cashew family and related to the mango (which both are known to inflict slightly burning chemicals, the cashew has a potent poison which if not prepared or cooked properly could burn your mouth).

An Update on the Red Flowered Trees

I was saddened last year to learn that the Bombax ceiba or malabulak in Sikatuna Village was cut down. I was thinking that my best candidate of a flowering specimen is gone.

Yesterday I went with the Philippine Native Plant Conservation Society to nearby Novaliches and passed a lot of flowered specimen of the tree. Even La Mesa watershed has flowering specimens. Hope the red blooms would last the Nova residents enough good memory for them not to cut the trees down. Here is hoping!!!

That Small Tree with those very Big Leaves

I am about to get burned up writing my thesis (which I have been doing for the past 2 months). So this afternoon when Ronald asked if I would want to come visit Mr. George Mendoza's garden I grabbed the opportunity to take that much needed break, much more when I learned Uly Ferreras was joining us (I had a few questions to ask Uly about some plants in my thesis).

When we arrived in Sir George's garden, immediately again I was in thesis mode (so much for the needed break) to see the fabulous specimens of Macaranga grandifolia near the gate. My pictures of takip-asin (some indigenous people use the very large leaf as food cover) were few so I immediately brought my camera out and started snapping at them.

Macaranga grandifolia is a small tree reaching a height of 7 meters. It is an endemic species according to Uly, only seen in Luzon and Mindoro. Yet Sir George mentioned that this plant has long been cultivated in places like Hawaii. In the Philippines only a few know the aesthetic value of this unique arborescent species.

A little anecdote - I have been complaining to both Ronald and Uly about writing my thesis and how I have been running out of choices to replace of all words - tree. They suggested arborescent species. Not even sure if I used it or spelled it right.