My favorite Philippine native trees

February 8, 2021

The late Leonard Co, a brilliant biologist who was known to have a “mental library” of plant species was among the few scientists who could identify so many at plain site. Botanists know that it takes detailed study and years of observing different flora to be able to identify plants accurately, let alone by simply looking at a few visual clues. And there are more than 9,000 species of plants and trees in the Philippines alone!

Despite this, you don’t have to be a scientist to appreciate certain plant species. In fact, many of us have a general idea about plant identification by just looking at fruits and leaves. There are calamansi, kamias, banana trees, papaya, cacao, coffee, malunggay, and many others that you probably already know how to identify. Setting aside sub-species, cultivars, and the like aside of course.

I’m not a botanist but having tagged along with some experts, I learned about a few species. Eventually I fell in love with a few of them. Thanks to organizations like the Haribon Foundation, Philippine Native Plants Conservation Society Incorporated or PNPCSI, and even Facebook groups like the Philippine Native Tree Enthusiasts, I learned to love 3 kinds of trees. All of them native to the Philippines.

Why “native”

Native trees, or trees indigenous to a certain area, are most adapted to that area. Factors like weather or climate, soil type, altitude, and local wildlife have a part in helping a forest. And it is forested watersheds that bring cities like Manila most of its water! Even in the US, forests are an important source of water.

Unfortunately there has been a historic trend to not only cut native or local trees, but to replace them with trees from other countries because they grow faster, or the wood is valuable in certain markets. These exotic trees offer short-term gains, but unlike native trees, they don’t help local wildlife and many are easily-felled during storms.

What ends up happening is that forest watersheds can’t sustain water like they used to, and we also lose more local wildlife that depend on these trees.

With that said, I’d like to share with you 3 of these native trees that I enjoy finding, or trying to identify. Maybe you can help identify local trees in your neighborhood too.

Narra

I learned that the Narra, scientific name Pterocarpus indicus, is the National Tree of the Philippines. And that it is actually an Endangered species under the IUCN Red List. To help identify them you need 3 things: its seeds, its branch, and its leaves.

Their seeds look like flat rough discs that are brown in color, and they sort of dangle attached to branches like the flat end of a doctor’s stethoscope. The leaves have tips or ends that become rather narrow, which I refer to non-scientifically as “narra nipples”. Lastly, the leaves are arranged so that they alternate along the branch, unlike other species whose leaves appear opposite of each other, or in other positions in relation to each other.

Narra trees however could be any number of species under the Pterocarpus genus, either way, the above descriptions combined can help you determine if a tree is a Narra or in the genus Pterocarpus (unless Narra only refers to P. Indicus? If so please comment below!)

Fallen seeds of a Narra mother tree (Pterocarpus indicus) found beside a “baby” Narra wildling — Fallen seeds of a Narra mother tree *(Pterocarpus indicus*) found beside a “baby” Narra wildling.

I guess one of the reasons why I like the tree is that every May one can observe Narra trees bloom their little yellow flowers which fall like rain when the wind blows. At that time of year you get another way of identifying Narra trees: by looking for trees surrounded by fallen yellow flowers every May. In combination with the previous 3 traits of a Narra tree, you can get closer to deducing that what stands before you is the National Tree of the Philippines.

A Narra tree blooming, with its yellow flowers falling to the ground.

Lots of yellow flowers from blooming Narra trees can end up falling to the ground.

Illustration of Narra tree with flowers by Cynthia Bauzon-Arre.

Tip: There are two different kinds of Narra trees, the Prickly Narra and the Smooth Narra. The names simply refer to the texture of their seeds. Prickly Narra have seeds that have little spiky protrusions, while the Smooth Narra are considered hip, charming, or sweet talkers.

Katmon

Katmon trees have beautiful flowers that have 5 petals with a center that looks like a small star or the mouth of an alien monster. The two species I’ve been lucky to see are the Dilennia philippinensis and Dilennia sibuyanensis or Sibuyan Katmon. D. philippinensis has white flowers while D. sibuyanensis has yellow flowers. Most trees in the Dilennia genus have common traits, but I’ve only seen these two up close.

Beautiful yellow flowers of the Sibuyan Katmon, Dilennia sibuyanensis.

The next way to identify if a tree is in the Dilennia genus or a katmon tree is by looking at their leaves. They are often oval-shaped and have serrated edges. On the leaves are lines that are fairly visible and emanate from the middle of the leaves to the edge.

Lastly you have their fruit, which hang from the branches and are as big as tennis balls. Fruit of katmon species in India and other parts of Asia are called elephant fruit. Possibly because it was mainly elephants that ate them, and therefore spread the katmon seeds. The fruits appear wrapped in layers of a thick, green, rind. When opened they have a beautiful, unique, pattern. These fruits can be eaten, if you like sour fruits, and because their sour Filipinos have long had katmon fruit in their repertoire of souring agents for Sinigang. See two recipes where I use katmon, pompano sinigang with katmon powder, and vegetable sinigang with real katmon fruit.

Bagras

I fell in love with this tree when I first saw one in Zamboanga. Also known as the Mindanao Gum or Rainbow Gum, the Bagras is a local eucalyptus tree native to Mindanao. The main difference between the Bagras and other eucalyptus trees is that as its bark peels away, fresh new colors of bark are revealed, hence the nickname “Rainbow Tree”.

One of the coloring Bagras trees we found on Camiguin Island.

Of all the trees, it’s the Bagras that I try to find as we travel, especially when traveling in the Visayas. Most especially in Mindanao, the Bagras’ native range. There have been times when I’d accidentally fall upon one while looking up at the sky. We spotted another huge Bagras on Camiguin Island, the home province of my father.

I love the Bagras so much that I made a map of Bagras trees seen by fellow native tree lovers!

Map of the Philippines with identified Bagras trees spotted. See the Google map here.

So far we have about 30 entries, and most of them are on Luzon. If you find any Bagras trees feel free to add them or send them to albert@philippinewildlife.art!

How to learn more

The best way to learn about the trees around us, aside from taking courses or a career in botany, is to find the experts. And the best way to do that is to join an environmental organization working to conserve our forests.

Here are links to the organizations or groups I mentioned that are dedicated to forest conservation and awareness-raising: