Diatoms - diamonds under the lens.

Dr  Abe V Rotor

Siliceous skeletons of diatoms as seen under an ordinary microscope 

I dug the earth, roamed the cities,
       consulted De Beers, 
probed the sea, spanned its breadth, 
       conquered fears and tears.

I examined the waters for their shine, 
       the caves' floor and roof,
consulted Jansen and Leeuwenhoek, 
       looking for every proof.

Familiar specimens all in the books,
       by carat they're known,  
'Til through the magic lens I found
       where diamonds are born. 

Photo Credit: Wikipedia 

Philippine Indigenous Perfume: The Sweet Scent of Ilang-Ilang

Children love to pick its flowers, and passersby look up to trace the source of the fragrance. Imagine the sweet-scented night air around the tree. It is therapeutic after a hard day's work. In the morning before I go to work, I spend a little time under the tree, relishing the freshness of the surroundings. Here I wait for sunrise and listens to the songs of birds perched on its branches.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class Monday to Friday

Ruby gathers freshly picked flowers of ilang ilang (Cananga odorata)
which she shall place at a home altar of Mama Mary and Santo Niño. QC
 

Ilang-Ilang (Cananga odorata) is an important source of essential oil. Ilang-ilang oil perfume is known all over the worldwide, specially in Italy and France, two countries known for their fabulous perfumes. Remember Lily of the Valley, during the pre-war era? It was made from Philippine ilang-ilang, its oil extracted through distillation. However, there are countries which have learned the trade and became our competitors. Moreover other sources of perfume have been developed lately.


Standing Tall

The tree stands tall, it reaches more than ten meters, towering over houses and other trees and emerging through the forest canopy. Its somewhat drooping branches bear the weight of thick foliage and pendulous flower clusters that exude sweet-smelling volatile oil detected far and wide.

And yet the ilang-ilang’s flower looks unassuming. Its color is green to yellowish green when mature, its petals thick, narrow, pointed and somewhat hairy. It hangs in groups of three, six, to as many as twelve, each in different stages of development. One by one, as the flowers are fertilized by insects, their petals dry up and fall like confetti, still exuding the characteristic perfume. Fruits are formed in place arranged like a crown, then turn black at maturity after which these fall off or are picked by birds or bats.

Our ilang ilang tree at home must have come by seed carried by bird or bat from the nearby La Mesa watershed where a towering ilang-ilang tree is visible across the subdivision. The tree is now thirty years old and it dominates the trees in the neighborhood.

 Children love to pick its flowers, and passersby look up to trace the source of the fragrance. Imagine the sweet-scented night air around the tree. It is therapeutic after a hard day's work. In the morning before I go to work, I spend a little time under the tree, relishing the freshness of the surroundings. Here I wait for sunrise and listens to the songs of birds perched on its branches.

The many uses of ilang ilang; the tree in full bloom usually in summer

The Garland Makers

On one Sunday, a father and son came to ask if they could gather the flowers of our ilang-ilang tree. They are from a family of necklace (lei and garland) makers who live not far our place. Patrick had just finished high school and was preparing for college.

“We have been making garlands for sometime now. It is our livelihood,” Elias told me. “Our trade is seasonal. The church on Sunday is a good place to sell. Sometimes we get orders for weddings and other special occasions like during graduation.”

Ka Elias continued, while gathering flowers with a special pole. Patrick, on the other hand, gathered the harvested flowers and kept them in a bag to keep them fresh.


 Ilang-Ilang as lei and pendant

According to Ka Elias, a simple lei is made of four heads: unopened sampaguita flowers, three or four on each side on an abaca string. Two flowers of ilang-ilang make the pendant. On the sidewalk, a good pair of a lei is sold for P10.

The making of floral necklaces has given households, like that of Ka Elias, a means of livelihood. The whole family is involved, and the children get to earn some money for their own tuition and are able to help their parents.

Sometimes when traffic is heavy, I take time to talk with necklace sellers. I feel good whenever I buy garlands from these hard-working children. Here is simple economics I figured out. If an ilang-ilang tree yields flowers with a value is P200 a week on the average, that would make P5,600 a year, and this is possible because ilang-ilang blooms throughout the year. Value added when made into leis doubles this amount. And that's just from a single tree.
Happy young vendors of leis made of sampaguita, kamia, and ilangilang as pendant. QC

Thus, ilang-ilang farms (or even those grown in backyards) could prove to be a profitable endeavor. I saw ilang-ilang seedlings for sale at the Manila Seedling Bank, along Quezon Avenue corner EDSA. On the other hand, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) may be able to teach you how oil from ilang-ilang can be extracted as natural perfume and for the manufacture of cosmetics and soap. The same department also has a technology package, through PCARRD, for the production of ilang-ilang and sampaguita.

Aside from being a livelihood for many, it may also help the country’s economy, as a dollar saver and earner with the export of its fragrant oil. And the ilang-ilang tree is good for reforesting the hillside and the upland.

Plant an ilang-ilang tree. It could be the start of a good business. If not, you will simply bring Nature close to your home. ~

Wild food plants are also called “survival plants.”

Wild food plants are also called “survival plants.” 

Survivors of war, plane crash, shipwreck have a lot to lessons to share, among them are edible plants that kept them alive.

Dr Abe V Rotor

                            Bagbagkong  (Telosma cordata) flower buds

 

Squash (Cucurbita maxima) male flowers, and saluyot (Corchorus olitorius) paksiw

Wild food plants may be a relative term today.  Saluyot (Corchorus olitorius) and spinach (Amaranthus sp) which used to grow in the wild are now planted commercially. But the bulk of wild edible plants remains ethnic to remote communities and certain cultures.  For example, nami (Dioscorea hispida) is a poisonous root crop but natives in the hinder lands where this plant abundantly grows know how to remove the poison before eating the starch of the tuber.  During WW II people were forced to eat on such unlikely food such as the corm (enlarged base) of wild banana (butolan or balayang) and maguey (Agave cantala), earning the name famine food. 

Many of these wild edible plants are facing extinction, including the less popular varieties of common crops. It is because our attention has been on the propagation of economically important ones, and those our palate has been accustomed to. Until lately however, people are becoming more conscious of natural and nutritious food, evading many crops which are raised with chemicals, and lately, crops that have been genetically altered (Genetically Modified Organisms or GMO).  

   

 

Other wild food plants which are found in the market are portulaca (ngalog), dampalit, katuray, papait (Mollugo oppositifolia) (PHOTO), talinum, alugbati, rosel, spinach, gulasiman, wild ampalaya, himbaba-o (alukong), to name a few.  Old folks have also a way of making ordinary things edible such as the male flower of rimas (Arthocarpus communis) is made into sweets, the same way the thick rind of pomelo (Citrus maxima) is sweetened in boiling sugarcane juice. Sweets are also made from kamias (Averrhoa balimbi.

All these made a green revolution in some corner, so to speak.  It might as well usher a signal that not all times is food plentiful.

A short list of wild food plants

·         Talisay (Terminalia catappa) bears nut like fruits that contain small seeds that taste like almond.
·         Tibig (Ficus nota.) The fruits are edible and have a good flavor.  They are soft and fleshy when mature.
·         Isis (Ficus odorata) or isis because its rough leaves are used as natural sandpaper for utensil and wood.  Its fruits like tibig are edible.  
·         Balleba (Vallisnera) is an aquatic plant growing in clear streams, ponds and lakes, whose leaves appear like ribbon, hence it is also called ribbon grass. The leaves are gathered and served fresh with tomato, onion and salt.
·         Apulid or water chestnut.  Our native apulid produces very small bulbs - only one-third the size of the Chinese or Vietnamese apulid.  It grows wild in places where water is present year round. It is boiled, peeled and served. 
·         Aratiles (Muntingia calabura) bears plenty of tiny berries which are red to violet when ripe. It is sweet and somewhat aromatic. 
·         Wild sinkamas (Pacchyrhizus erosus) has enlarged roots which may remain in the soil even after the plants has dried up in summer. It is gathered and eaten raw.
·         Urai (Amaranthus spinosus). The plant become spiny as it matures. It is the very young plant that is gathered as vegetable.
·         Mulberry (Morus alba). Its leaves are the chief food of silkworm.  The fruits when ripe are purple to black, and while very small are juicy and fairly sweet.
·         Wild Taro (Colocasia sp.). The Palawan gabi grows twice the height of man and produces a large corm.  There is a technique in preparing and cooking the corm. Or making starch out of it.  The key is thorough cleaning and cooking. 
·         Gulasiman (Portulaca oleracea) has succulent leaves and stems which are cooked as vegetables. 
·         Alugbati (Basella rubra) is a twining plant with reddish stems and leaves. The tops are gathered as vegetable which is mucilaginous when cooked.
·         Talinum ((Talinum triangulare). The succulent stems and leaves are gathered as vegetable. 

Wild food plants include corm of banana, core of maguey (Agave cantala), bamboo shoot, bignay (Antidesma binuis), kumpitis (Clitorea purpurea), kamkamote, rattan fruits, sabawil, alukong, lotus seed, wild papaya, botolan (seeded banana), wild mushrooms, and many others.

Flower vegetables are nutritious. They go well with many recipes - from salad to bulanglang.

Puso ng saging is high in tannin and it’s good for diabetic patients. It can be an extender of expensive meat burgers. No kari-kari is without banana blossom. Pesang dalag is best with puso ng saging cut in chunks. Ginatang puso ng saging, anyone? When I was a kid, I love to eat the inner heart raw. It tastes like artichoke.

Squash flowers are high in carotin. It improves eyesight and prevents blindness. It is excellent with saluyot when cooking bulanglang or diningding. Add fresh mushroom. The best sahug when you are in the countryside is freshwater shrimp. If you have no problem with cholesterol, why not use as sahug bagnet (lechon kawali) from Vigan.

Alokong is a staminate or male flower which is gathered from the male tree. The female tree does not produce edible flowers. Because the tree is very tall, gatherers take the short cut of cutting the branches and take immature flowers and buds as well. Try buridibud by mashing kamote to thicken the soup. A unique recipe of Ilocanos is to combine alokong and malunggay pods in juvenile or succulent stage, and add broiled hito or bangos as sahug.

Katuray flower is blanched and served with tomato and a dash of salt. It is good for people who have elevated blood pressure. It is cooked the way alokong is prepared with kamote and sahug of fried or broiled bangos, hito or tilapia.

Another flower vegetable comes from madre de cacao or kakawate which blooms in summer. The flowers are our local counterpart of cherry blossom. Open the pot when it comes to a boil to reduce the characteristic bean taste.

Sampalok or tamarind flowers are gathered for sinigang. Malunggay flowers which include newly formed pods are cooked the same way as any bulanglang.

Cauliflower and broccoli are perhaps the most popular commercial vegetable flowers. They belong to Family Cruciferae. They grow on semi temperate and temperate countries, although they are grown in the tropics during the cool months. One disadvantage of Crucifers is that they are the most sprayed of all vegetables, and are likely to carry chemical residues hazardous to health. Cauliflower and broccoli are also among the most expensive vegetables. They are prepared in restaurants as chopsuey, dressing, soup, pickle and the like.

Other flower vegetables come from the following plants:
• Okra
• Spinach
• Kutchai
• Onion
• Garlic 
• Cucumber
• Lettuce
• Gumamela
• Anis
Flowers are not only for decoration and offering. Other than their aesthetic value, they are delicious, nutritious and unique.

Please eat the flowers. ~

Here are some practical means of measurement by old folks, can you add to the list?.

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Living with Nature School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class Monday to Friday

Old folks would tell a child that the total length of the outstretched arms fingertip to fingertip is equivalent to the height of the person. This is based on the drawing of Leonardo da Vinci. Is this true? What don’t you try it on yourself? They also say that the least shadow you make, the closer it is to noontime. This is of course without reference to the declination of the sun, and the season of the year. 

abot bahay, abot bubong...

      There is no assurance of accuracy in these means of measurement. Take for instance when one says “isang sigarilyo lang ang layo” (it takes a stick of cigarette to reach the place), and the guide has yet to light his cigarette and you have gone a long way. Or somebody says, “It is only at the other side of the mountain.”  Which mountain and how many are there?  

Try to use these informal means of measurements.

·         Dipa’ – the length covered from fingertip to fingertip with both arms fully stretched.

·         Dangkal – distance from tip of thumb to tip of forefinger, or middle finger.

·         Guhit – when measuring the amount of water in cooking rice we use the finger – one or two guhit.  

·         Talampakan – distance from heel to toe, equivalent to one “foot.”

·         Tingi – in retail selling this is a parcel without any standard reference.

·         Hanggang tuhod,  bewang, liig, lampas tao, etc   

Conceiving mother who gets near a fruiting tree causes its fruits to fall prematurely.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class Monday to Friday

There is no scientific evidence to link a conceiving mother with the premature dropping of fruits, but let us look at it this way.  Craving for certain food, such as those rich in Vitamin C - green mango, young sampaloc, kamias, guava and the like - is generally observed among conceiving mothers. It is not unusual to see them in the orchard, holding a bamboo pole or some pieces of stone. Such craving for special foods is a physiologic function of the body, but it may be psychological, too.  Old folks interpret it as maternal impression (pinaglihi-an), which is of course an unfounded belief.

A twosome friendly discussion on the topic that maternal impression has something to do witjh premature dropping of fruits, one inability of the tree to fruit in the coming season. Sell, in this particular case the tree (mango) has reached its senite stage.  

Survival plants. There are a lot of edible plants around.

Dr Abe V Rotor 

.Living with Nature School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class Monday to Friday

Survivors of war, plane crash, shipwreck have a lot to lessons to share, among them are edible plants that kept them alive.

·         Talisay (Terminalia catappa) bears nut like fruits that contain small seeds that taste like almond.

·         Tibig (Ficus nota.) The fruits are edible and have a good flavor.  They are soft and fleshy when mature.

·         Isis (Ficus odorata) or isis because its rough leaves are used as natural sandpaper for utensil and wood.  Its fruits like tibig are edible.  

·         Balleba (Vallisnera) is an aquatic plant growing in clear streams, ponds and lakes, whose leaves appear like ribbon, hence it is also called ribbon grass. The leaves are gathered and served fresh with tomato, onion and salt.

Edible wild mushrooms.  Be sure they are edible, not the poisonous species. 

·         Apulid or water chestnut.  Our native apulid produces very small bulbs - only one-third the size of the Chinese or Vietnamese apulid.  It grows wild in places where water is present year round. It is boiled, peeled and served. 

·         Aratiles (Muntingia calabura) bears plenty of tiny berries which are red to violet when ripe. It is sweet and somewhat aromatic. 

·         Wild sinkamas (Pacchyrhizus erosus) has enlarged roots which may remain in the soil even after the plants has dried up in summer. It is gathered and eaten raw.

·         Urai (Amaranthus spinosus). The plant become spiny as it matures. It is the very young plant that is gathered as vegetable.

·         Mulberry (Morus alba). Its leaves are the chief food of silkworm.  The fruits when ripe are purple to black, and while very small are juicy and fairly sweet.

·         Taro (Colocasia sp.). The Palawan gabi grows twice the height of man and produces a large corm.  There is a technique in preparing and cooking the corm. Or making starch out of it.  The key is thorough cleaning and cooking. 

·         Gulasiman (Portulaca oleracea) has succulent leaves and stems which are cooked as vegetables. 

·         Alugbati (Basella rubra) is a twining plant with reddish stems and leaves. The tops are gathered as vegetable which is mucilaginous when cooked.

Top, clockwise: wild species of patani, eggplant, ampalaya and alukong (male flower_, 

·         Talinum ((Talinum triangulare). The succulent stems and leaves are gathered as vegetable. 

Wild food plants include corm of banana, core of maguey (Agave cantala), bamboo shoot, bignay (Antidesma binuis), kumpitis (Clitorea purpurea), kamkamote, rattan fruits, sabawil, alukong, lotus seed, wild papaya, botolan (seeded banana), wild mushrooms, and many others.~