Philippine Trees 101

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 Narra Tree
Pterocarpus indicus (commonly known as Amboyna wood, Malay padauk, Papua New Guinea rosewood, Philippine mahogany, Andaman
redwood, Burmese rosewood, Narra and asana in the Philippines, Angsana, or Pashu padauk) is a species of Pterocarpus native to southeastern Asia,
northern Australasia, and the western Pacific Ocean islands, in Cambodia, southernmost China, East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea,
the Philippines, the Ryukyu Islands, the Solomon Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Pterocarpus indicus was one of two species (Eysenhardtia polystachya) used as a source for the 16th- to 18th-century traditional diuretic
known as lignum nephriticum. Many populations of Pterocarpus indicus are seriously threatened. It is extinct in Vietnam and possibly in Sri Lanka
and Peninsular Malaysia. It was declared the national tree of the Philippines in 1934 by Governor-General Frank Murphy of the Insular Government
of the Philippine Islands through Proclamation No. 652.

Narra is a majestic reddish hardwood tree, growing to 33 meters high and 2 meters in diameter with an irregular fluted trunk. Leaves are
compound, pinnate, 15 to 30 centimeters long, with 7 to 11 leaflets that ovate to oblong-ovate, and 5 to 10 centimeters long. Flowers are numerous,
yellow, fragrant, and about 1.5 centimeters long, on branched, axillary panicles. Pods are disc-shaped, flat, with winged margins, hairy when young
but smooth or nearly so when mature, more or less reticulate and undulate, and very shortly beaked, orbicular to obovate, including the wing 4 to 5.5
centimeters long, and the wing 1 to 1.5 centimeters wide.

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterocarpus_indicus
http://www.stuartxchange.org/Narra.html

Uses:
The hardwood, which is purplish, is termite-resistant and rose-scented. The wood
known in Indonesia as amboyna is the burl of the tree, named after Ambon, where
much of this material was originally found. Often amboyna is finely sliced to produce
an extremely decorative veneer, used for decoration and in the making of furniture
and keys on a marimba. It is a premium timber species suitable for high-grade
furniture, lumber, and plywood for light construction purposes. It is also used for
cartwheels, wood carving, and musical instruments. The flower is used as a honey
source while leaf infusions are used as shampoos. Both flowers and leaves were said
to be eaten. The leaves are supposedly good for waxing and polishing brass and
copper. It is also a source of kino or resin.[ The leaves of narra are also used in
traditional medicine to treat a variety of health problems. Narra leaves contain
flavonoids. Flavonoids are antioxidants that provide health benefits to humans, such
as anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic benefits. Flavonoids in narra leaves may be
capable of preventing damage to your kidneys.

In folk medicine, it is used to combat tumors.[This property might be due to an acidic

polypeptide found in its leaves that inhibited the growth of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma
cells by disruption of cell and nuclear membranes. It was also one of the sources of
lignum nephriticum, a diuretic in Europe during the 16th to 18th centuries. Its
reputation is due to its wood infusions, which are fluorescent. The tree is
recommended as an ornamental tree for avenues and is sometimes planted in Puerto
Rico as a shade and ornament. The tall, dome-shaped crown, with long, drooping
branches is very attractive and the flowers are spectacular in areas with a dry season.
It is very easily propagated from seed or large stem cuttings but suffers from disease
problems. It is widely planted as a roadside, park, and parking lot tree.

In agroforestry, it maintains ecosystem fertility and soil stability. Narra is a

leguminous plant that is capable of fixing nitrogen by forming endosymbiotic
relationships with nitrogen-fixing bacteria that live in its root nodules. Leguminous
plants, such as narra, are responsible for transforming nitrogen into a usable form. In
the Philippines, a permit is required to cut the tree (Narra), but nevertheless, the
popular sturdy wood is widely used for construction and furniture projects.

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterocarpus_indicus

Scientific Name: Pterocarpus indicus

Family Name: Leguminosae
 Mahogany Tree
Swietenia macrophylla commonly known as American mahogany, Cuban mahogany, and West Indian mahogany, is a
species of Swietenia native to South Florida in the United States and islands in the Caribbean including the Bahamas, Cuba,
Jamaica, and Hispaniola. It is the species from which the original mahogany wood was produced. Mahogany is grown as a
plantation tree and sold in timber markets in Kerala, India. It is listed as "Threatened" in the Preservation of Native Flora of
Florida Act. It is the national tree of the Dominican Republic.

Mahogany is a deciduous, erect tree growing to a height of 10 meters, with a heavy, dark-green, and dense crown. The
trunk is more or less buttressed. The bark is dark gray and ridged. Young leaves when in the flush are pink, soon turning green.
Leaves are alternate, smooth, compound, about 15 centimeters long, in 3 to 6 pairs, most often 5 pairs, of leaflets. Leaflets are
inequilateral, ovate to oblong-ovate, 5 to 8 centimeters long and half as wide, pointed at the tip, broadly obtuse, or rounded at the
base. Flowers are greenish-yellow, about 8 millimeters wide, borne in axillary panicles shorter than the foliage. The calyx is rim-
like and the petals are oblong, less than 5 millimeters in length. The staminal tube is slightly reddish, thick, and nearly as long as
the corolla. Fruit is large, cylindrical, barrel-shaped, woody, grayish-brown, rough, and less than 12 centimeters long. The body
of the fruit splits into five thick outer valves and five thinner inside valves. The outer valves fall off when ripe exposing closely
packed seeds attached by the tips of their wings. Seeds are brownish, 5 to 7 centimeters long, with a broad and thin wing and a
corky, thickened part containing the embryo.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swietenia_mahagoni
http://www.stuartxchange.org/Mahogany

The earliest recorded use of Mahogany was in 1514. This date year was carved into a
rough-hewn cross placed in the Basilica Cathedral of Santa María la Menor in Santo
Domingo (now the capital of the Dominican Republic), at the beginning of the
building's construction. Completed about 1540, it is the oldest church in the West
Indies, and its interior was ornamented with carved mahogany woodwork that is still
in almost perfect condition after 500 years in the tropics.

Other records refer to the use of mahogany between 1521 and 1540 when Spanish
explorers employed the wood for making canoes and for ship repair work in the
West Indies. The next significant recorded use was in 1597, regarding repairs for Sir
Walter Raleigh's ships in the West Indies. The first documented use in Europe of West
Indies mahogany for major building structures prior to 1578 was in Spain. It was
specified for use in the construction and interior decoration of one of the grandest
royal residences built during the Renaissance in Europe, El Escorial. It seems likely
that the merits of mahogany were already well-known and that it was used
extensively, since King Philip II of Spain's advisors requisitioned it for making the
interior trim work and elaborate furniture of a group of some of the most expensive
buildings ever built in Europe: "When in 1578 the king ordered incorruptible [i.e. rot-
resistant] and very good woods – cedar, ebony, mahogany, acana, guayacan, and
ironwood – sent to embellish the Excorial, they had to be brought from a distance by
the slaves. Shipment of such woods was made in the summer of 1579 and others
followed through a period of ten years at least."

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swietenia_mahagoni

Scientific Name: Swietenia Macrophylla

Family Name: Meliaceae
 Botong Tree
Barringtonia asiatica (Fish Poison Tree, Putat, Botong (in the Philippines) or Sea Poison Tree) is a
species of Barringtonia native to mangrove habitats from islands of the Indian Ocean in the west to tropical
Asia and islands of the western Pacific Ocean. It is grown along streets for decorative and shade purposes in
some parts of India, for instance in some towns on the southeastern shore. It is also known as Box Fruit due to
the distinct box-shaped fruit it produces. The local name Futu is the source of the name for the Polynesian
island Futuna. The type specimen was collected by botanist Pehr Osbeck on a sandy beach area on the island
of Java, later to be described (and given the original name of Mammea asiatica) by Carl Linnaeus in his
Species Plantarum in 1753 (and reassigned to the genus Barringtonia by Wilhelm Kurz in 1875).

Botong is a tree growing to a height of 8 to 15 meters. Leaves are large, obovate or obovate-oblong, 20 to
40 centimeters long, entire, thick, shining, stalkless, blunt-tipped, and pointed at the base. Flowers are very
large and white, borne in short, erect, few-flavored racemes. Calyx-tube is about 1 centimeter long; the lobes,
2 or 3, are oblong-ovate, concave, green and about 2.5 centimeters long. Petals are deciduous, four, thin, first
white and then brownish, oblong, 7 to 8 centimeters long, and 3 to 4 centimeters wide. Stamens are very
numerous, slender, and united at the base, 10 to 12 centimeters long, white below, and shading to purple
above. Anthers are small and yellow. The fruit has a typical tetragonal lantern shape, 8 to 14 centimeters long
and 8 to 12 centimeters thick, containing one large seed.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barringtonia_asiatica
http://www.stuartxchange.org/Botong.html

Distribution
- A common strand plant along the seashore
throughout the Philippines.
- Cultivated as a shade tree along boulevards
and avenues by the sea.
- Also found within tropical Asia to Polynesia.

Scientific Name: Barringtonia asiatica

Family Name: Lecythidaceae
 Acacia Tree
Samanea saman (syn. Albizia saman) is a species of flowering tree in the pea family,
Fabaceae/Leguminosae, now in the Mimosoideae (mimosa family), and is native to Central and South America.
It is often placed in the genus Samanea, which by yet other authors is subsumed in Albizia entirely.

Its range extends from Mexico south to Peru and Brazil, but it has been widely introduced to South and
Southeast Asia, as well as the Pacific Islands, including Hawaii. It is a well-known tree, rivaled perhaps only by
Lebbeck and pink siris among its genus. It is well represented in many languages and has numerous local names
in its native range; common English names include saman, rain tree, and monkeypod. In the Philippines, it is
known as akasya, acacia, or palo de China.

Acacia is a large umbraculiform tree growing to a height of 20 to 25 meters. The bark is rough and furrowed.
Branches are widespread. Leaves are evenly bipinnate and hairy underneath. Pinnae are 8 to 12 and 15 centimeters
long or less. Leaflets are 12 to 16 in the upper pinnae, 6 to 10 in the lower ones, decreasing in size downward, hairy
beneath, with the mid-nerve diagonal, and oblong-rhomboid, 1.5 to 4 centimeters long. Flowers are pink, borne
in dense, peduncled, axillary, solitary, fascicled heads. Fruits are pods, straight, somewhat fleshy, indehiscent, 15
to 20 centimeters long, 2 centimeters wide, with a pulpy sweet mesocarp.

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samanea_saman
http://www.stuartxchange.org/Acacia.html

Distribution
- Throughout the Philippines in waste places along roads
and trails in fallow, rice paddies, etc.
- Widely planted as a shade tree and avenue tree.
- In some places, spontaneous.
- Introduced here about 1860 from tropical America.
- Now pantropic in cultivation.

Scientific Name: Albizia saman (Jacq.) Merr.

Family Name: Fabaceae/Leguminosae
Sampalok/Tamarind Tree
Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) is a leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is indigenous to
tropical Africa and naturalized in Asia. The genus Tamarindus is monotypic, meaning that it contains
only this species. It belongs to the family Fabaceae/Leguminosae.

The tamarind tree produces brown, pod-like fruits that contain a sweet, tangy pulp, which is
used in cuisines around the world. The pulp is also used in traditional medicine and as a metal polish.
The tree's wood can be used for woodworking and tamarind seed oil can be extracted from the seeds.
Tamarind's tender young leaves are used in South Indian and Filipino cuisine. Because tamarind has
multiple uses, it is cultivated around the world in tropical and subtropical zones.

A large tree that grows to 25 m. The leaves are compound, to 10 cm long, with 10 to 20 pairs of
leaflets. The flowers are small, yellow with pink stripes. The pods are brown, hanging, and rounded
with a few seeds. The seeds are surrounded by a sweetish edible pulp. Probably a native of Africa, it
was introduced in early times and is widely cultivated in the Philippines. The name comes from the
Arabic Tamar-Hindu or Indian date.

Use: Flesh of immature fruit pods is used for flavoring soups. Mature pods are eaten fresh or used in
drinks, jams, candies, chutneys, curries, ice cream, syrup, or meat sauces. Oil and gum can be
extracted from the seeds for food and industrial use. Leaves are used as soup flavor and for cattle
forage or green manure. Wood is strong and durable and used for furniture, turnery, tool handles,
toys, mortars, and chopping blocks and also provides excellent fuel and charcoal.
Ecology: The tamarind grows within a wide range of soil and climatic conditions, but usually on
sandy or clay soils up to about 1,000 m altitude or sometimes higher. Drought and wind-resistant. In
very wet conditions it does not flower.
Distribution: Native to tropical Africa and now planted in all tropical countries

Scientific Name: Tamarindus indica Linn.

Family Name: Fabaceae/Leguminosae
 Molave Tree
Vitex parviflora is a species of plant in the family Verbenaceae, also known as the small flower
chaste tree or the molave tree. The name "molave" is from Spanish, derived from mulawin, the Tagalog
word for the tree. It is also known as tugas in Visayan languages. It yields one of two kinds of wood from
the same genus called molave wood, the other being Vitex cofassus.

It is a native species in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. It can also be found in Central
and South America, the Caribbean, Oceania, and Asia. It was reported to be an invasive species in Guam
and Hawaii after it became naturalized in O’ahu and escaped from cultivation in Guam. In Cuba, it is
also considered as a possibly invasive species due to naturalization.

It is valued in the Philippines for its dense durable wood and was once used extensively in
furniture, boats, utensils, and as construction material. The wood is also known to resist decay and
termites. It became a protected species in the Philippines and it is illegal to cut its tree under certain
conditions. Before 2019, it was listed as critically endangered, threatened, and vulnerable in the
assessments recorded in the IUCN Red List. As of 2017, the Philippine Department of Environment and
Natural Resources classified it as endangered due to overharvesting and habitat loss. However, in 2019,
the species was reassessed and declared as least concern by IUCN.

Molave is a tree that reaches a height of 8 to 15 meters, smooth or nearly so, with inflorescences
that may be slightly hairy. Leaflets are three, stalked, ovate to lanceolate, 7 to 18 centimeters long,
pointed at the tip, shining and quite smooth. Flowers are blue, numerous, 6 to 8 millimeters long, hairy
outside the corolla, borne on terminal, paniculate, and ample inflorescences, up to 20 centimeters in
length. The fruit is rounded, 5 to 6 millimeters in diameter.

Scientific Name: Vitex parviflora Juss.

Family Name: Verbenaceae
 Katmon Tree
Dillenia philippinensis (katmon) is endemic to the Philippines and can be used for urban
greening. Its fruit is known as elephant apple. Katmon grows in low to medium-altitude forests
throughout the Philippines but does not survive the cold climates of the uplands.

Katmon is featured on the reverse side of the Philippine twenty-five centavo coin since 2018 as
part of the New Generation Currency Coin Series.

Katmon is a medium-sized evergreen tree that grows as high as 10 to 15 meters. Its trunk is erect
and the branches usually start midway of the trunk. The tree is buttress-forming, evergreen, and
shade-tolerant. The bark is smooth with shallow fissures. The leaves are leathery, shining, ovate,
elliptic or oblong-ovate, about 12 to 25 centimeters long, and coarsely toothed at the margins. Its
flowers are white, large, showy, and about 15 centimeters in diameter with reddish pistils and
stamens. The edible fruits are rounded, about six to eight centimeters in diameter, with large fleshy
sepals tightly enclosing the true fruit.

The fruit, called the "elephant apple", has a diameter that is around five to six centimeters. It
contains a soft, fleshy, green, and edible pulp with a flavor similar to a sour green apple. It is used to
make sauces, jams, and flavoring for fish. The fruit's acid is mixed with sugar to make a traditional
cure for cough. It is also used to clean the hair.

The tree is harvested for its timber as it is suitable for furniture and cabinet making. The wood
has a beautiful silver grain similar to a quartered oak. A red dye can also be obtained from the bark.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dillenia_philippinensis

Katmon tree in Manila Zoo (Left), Greenbelt Park (Right) and the botanical art (Middle)
 Siar Tree
Peltophorum pterocarpum (commonly known as copperpod, yellow-flamboyant, yellow
flametree, yellow poinciana or yellow-flame) is a species of Peltophorum, native to tropical
southeastern Asia and a popular ornamental tree grown around the world.

Peltophorum pterocarpum is native to tropical southeast Asia and northern Australasia, in

Australia (including islands off the Northern Territory coast), Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua
New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam (where it is called Lim xẹt). It is also found in India. In
the Philippines, it is called a Siar tree or Kalayaan tree.

Peltophorum pterocarpum is a fast-growing deciduous tree reaching a height of 15-24 m, sometimes

as high as 50 m, with a diameter of 50-100 cm. The bark is smooth and gray, with a dense spreading
crown. Leaves are large and much divided, 30-60 cm long, with 8-10 pairs of pinnae, each bearing 10-20
pairs of oblong leaflets 0.8-2.5 cm long with oblique bases. The inflorescence is brown, tomentose.
Panicles are terminal with rust-colored buds. Flowers are orange-yellow, about 2.5 cm in diameter,
fragrant, especially at night. Fruit is a pod, flat, thin, winged, 5-10 cm long and 2.5 cm wide, dark red and
black on ripening. containing 1-4 seeds.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peltophorum_pterocarpum
http://www.stuartxchange.org/SiarTree

Etymology:

Scientific name derives from Greek peltophorum,

meaning bearing a shield, referring to the peltate
stigma, and Latin pterocarpum meaning winged
fruited, referring to the species' fruit.
Scientific Name: Peltophorum pterocarpum (DC.) K. Heyne
Family Name: Fabaceae/Leguminosae

Siar trees in Manila Zoo (Left), and

Greenbelt Park (Right)
 Kamagong Tree
Diospyros blancoi, (synonym Diospyros discolor), commonly known as velvet apple, velvet persimmon,
kamagong, or mabolo tree, It is a tree of the genus Diospyros of ebony trees and persimmons. It produces edible fruit with
a fine, velvety, reddish-brown fur-like covering. The fruit has a soft, creamy, pink flesh, with a taste and aroma
comparable to peaches. The dense hardwood is also sought after.

It is widely distributed and native to the Philippines, but it is also native to eastern and southern Taiwan. It has also
been introduced to other parts of Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, South Asia, the Caribbean, Florida, and other tropical
regions.

Mabolo is a medium-sized tree growing to a height of 20 meters. Leaves are leathery, oblong, up to 20 centimeters
long, with a round base and acute tip. The blade is glossy green, smooth above, and softly hairy below. Female flowers are
axillary and solitary, larger than the male. Fruits are fleshy, globose, up to 8-10 centimeters in diameter, and densely
covered with short brown hairs. The pulp is edible. The fruit hairs have to be rubbed off before eating as it can cause peri-
oral itching and irritation.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diospyros_blancoi
http://www.stuartxchange.org/Mabolo.html

Timber:

A Kamagong chair
Like other trees in Dyospiros, which include ebony, Kamagong
timber is extremely dense and hard and is famous for its dark
color. Like many other very hard kinds of wood, it is sometimes
called "iron wood" because of the wood density and hardness.

The wood is generally used for house construction which

includes flooring, post, doors, and windows, among others.
Finished products from kamagong wood, such as fine furniture
and decoratives can be exported provided that they are
properly documented and approved by the Customs authorities.
Kamagong is also popular for martial arts training implements
such as bokkens and eskrima sticks.

Governance:
It is an endangered tree species and protected by Philippine law
– it is illegal to export kamagong timber from the country
without special permission from the Bureau of Forestry,
Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diospyros_blancoi

Scientific Name: Diospyros blancoi

Family Name: Ebenaceae