The Indi Journal

Specimen :  Wild shrubs or treelets

Observed habit :  Dry grasslands, coastal thickets, beaches

Location :  San Miguel, Bulacan

Dinggalan, Aurora

Local name :  Matang-katang, Matang-hipon, Matang-ulang

Botanical name :  Breynia vitis-idaea

Family :  Phyllanthaceae / Euphorbiaceae

Height :  2-4 meters

Trunk :  Bent or scrambling

Leaves :  Alternate; Ovate, small, yellowish or bright green

Fruit :  Capsule (?);  Small, round, supported by a minute calyx; from light green to pinkish or red to deep purple

Fruiting season :  Possibly year-round

Traits :  Drought tolerant; Evergreen; Large shrub or small tree; Monoecious; Much branched; Salt-spray tolerant; Tolerant of infertile soil

Recommendations :  Coastal protection/stabilization; Hedging; Reforestation pioneer

Used for : Bark is used as astringent to arrest hemmorhages; Fuelwood

Origin : Indigenous to Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, China and Southeast Asia (including the Philippines)

Onsight assessment :  Common to rare

National conservation status :  Not threatened in the Philippines

Possible threats :  Clearing of woodlands for agricultural, commercial or residential use; Coastal developments

Resources :

E-prosea  - Breynia http://proseanet.org/prosea/e-prosea_detail.php?frt=&id=957

Flora of China  -  Breynia vitis-idaea http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=242309074

USDA Germplasm Resources Information Network  -  Breynia vitis-idaea  http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?423335

Specimen : Wild trees

Observed habit :  Creekbank thickets

Location : San Miguel, Bulacan

Local name : Tapinag-bundok

Botanical name :  Sterculia cordata var. montana

Family :  Malvaceae

Height :  6-10 meters

Trunk : Erect; Bark smooth to cracked, rich reddish brown

Leaves : Oblonceolate (?), apex acuminate, base cordate, surface coarse, rich green; Often crowded near the terminal end of branches or twigs

Fruit :  Clusters of 1 to 3 (or more?) fibrous, hollowed, light-green to orange (dehiscent) follicles;  Seeds 1 to 5 per follicle, round or oblong, coated with shiny black or grey seedcoat that peels readily when dry

Traits : Dioecious; Semi-deciduous (?) to deciduous (?); Fast-growing; Low to medium altitude tree; Small to medium-sized tree; Tolerant of occasional water-logging

Recommendations : Erosion control; Living fence; Riparian management; Roadside tree; Urban greening; Wildcrafting

Used for :  Edible seeds, boiled, roasted or fried; Timber for light interior constructions, wooden box and cases, shoe heels, veneer, plywood; Pulpwood

Origin :  Indigenous to the island of Borneo and the Philippines

Location assessment :  Rare

National conservation status :  Not threatened

Possible threats : Clearing of woodlands for agricultural, commercial or residential use; Unsustainable cutting of wild trees

Resources :

ASEAN Tropical Plant database – Sterculia cordata var. montana  http://211.114.21.20/tropicalplant/html/search01_view.jsp?rno=180&fno=&page=1&scientific=sterculia%20cordata&all=

Philippine Woods :  Principal Uses, Distribution & Equivalent  Woods in Asia Pacific (A. Ella, A. Tongacan, R. Escobin & F. Pitargue)

Revised Lexicon of Philippine Trees (J. Rojo)

Specimen :  Wild shrubs

Observed habit :  Dry thickets and open grasslands

Location :  San Miguel, Bulacan

Local name : (?)

Botanical name :  Gymnosporia spinosa var. spinosa

Family :  Celastraceae

Height :  2-4 meters

Leaves : Fasciculate; Elliptic or narrow obovate, firm, rich green, underside smooth silvery green

Flowers :  Tubular (?); 5-petaled, white, small, with numerous stamens

Fruit :  Capsule; 3-valved, dehiscent, light green; Seeds numerous

Traits :  Semi-deciduous to deciduous; Drought tolerant; Large shrub; Much-branched; Tolerant of infertile soil

Recommendations :  Hedging; Reforestation pioneer

Used for :  Fuelwood

Origin :  Endemic to the Philippines

Location assessment :  Common to rare

National conservation status :  Not threatened

Possible threats : Clearing of woodlands for agricultural, commercial or residential use

(Note :  Samples identified for the Author by taxonomist Ulysses Ferreras)

Resource :

Reinstatement of Gymnosporia (Celastraceae):
implications for the Flora Malesiana region (Marie Jordaan and A.E. van Wyk)  http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/72714/Tel10Jor155.pdf