Plants
& Field Trips - September 2006
(Click on thumbnails for larger images)
September 17
Luzon, Laguna Province, Caliraya Barangay, Cavinti, Eco-Saddle Center
for Ecology
Lake Caliraya is a man-made lake that provides hydroelectric power.
I visited two tree plantations and a waterfall with a group
of
forestry students from UPLB. Lake Caliraya is at high
elevation
and is in the Sierra Madre mountain range. It was logged for
timber, and now the "poor" quality trees are being cut for charcoal.
Some reforestation has been done to protect the watershed,
namely
coconut and Acacia
plantations.
The first site where students surveyed plots was this Acacia
auricoliformis plantation. This is an Australian
tree grown for
pulp.
The
understory was mostly
grass with a few herbs and a few
climbers (Araceae and ferns). Mahogany (Swietenia) and Calophyllum inophyllum
were recently planted in between the Acacia, but the Swietenia are too
close together and the Calophyllum
is a beach species which isn't suited to the high elevation.
The saplings are only a few years old, and the Swietenia should be
ready for harvest in 20-30 years. The bark of the trees was
covered with lichens (mostly crustose but also a Nephroma or Leptogium),
mosses, and leafy liverworts. The shore of Lake Caliraya was
grassy with a few low herbs. People come to the area to swim.
Given the high elevation, the area was pleasantly warm and
almost
cool at times because of the breeze off the lake.
The second site surveyed was across the road in a coconut plantation.
The undergrowth wasn't being cut in the plantation, so
diversity
was much higher. It was also much hotter in this plantation.
I found Usnea
and some
parmelioid lichens growing on the palm trunks, as well as many crustose
lichens. There were abundant
ferns along the
road, including one
that had sori along the midrib on the bottom of the pinnae.
There
were more trees than I could photograph and identify in the time given,
but I saw two species of Ficus
(F. septica
shown below; the other with nice domatia on the abaxial veins), a Melastoma, and what
was probably an Alstonia.
I later took a picture of Dillenia philippinensis
(missing 2 petals) further down the road.
We then hiked about half an hour over hills and fields to a waterfall.
The fields must have been cultivated at one point because
they were evenly ridged with long rows of rises and dips that made
walking off the path difficult. It was very hot in the field
with no shade except what my umbrella provided. The final
descent to the waterfall was very steep and slippery, with lots of
interesting vines and herbs along the sides. I saw what might
have been a species of Tabernaemontana
with two lip-stick red capsules held underneath the leaves.
There was a lovely Amorphophallus
leaf down by the waterfall, as well as a yellow-flowered vining legume.
I think there were swallows flying around over the stream,
but I didn't have my binoculars or bird book with me. The
climb back up from the waterfall was very hot and sweaty - I've learned
to bring a dry shirt to change into after a hike.
September 23
Luzon, Laguna Province, Los Baños, Makiling Botanic Gardens
Makiling Botanic Gardens are in the Makiling Forest Reserve on the
College of Forestry campus at UPLB. Some areas are planted
with exotics and ornamentals while others have native forest
vegetation. Dr. Quimado had a field trip for some of her
students at the Gardens and I came along. We didn't pay
admission, but it's not expensive (P10) if you do have to pay.
The area right inside the gate has at least several exotics planted.
There are very few labels for the plants, mostly just empty
label holders. I took several pictures of an Ochna that had
buds, flowers, and mature fruit. Only one species of Ochna is native to
the Malesian region (which includes the Philippines) but it's not found
in the Philippines. This one was probably an African species,
with an enlarged bright red calyx and black fruit (the Mickey Mouse
plant). I took pictures of several species of Medinilla and some
herbs. Identification is a problem because there are
basically no field guides to Philippine plants and most of the older
literature is out of date taxonomically.
Before the students did plot surveys we walked along several trails to
see representatives of non-flowering plants. The banks beside
the trails were covered with ferns, mosses, and at least two different
kinds of Selaginella.
I took a picture of a Begonia
in flower and an ant highway. Closer to the plot
site I found
a shrub with clusters of red fruit. I later identified it as Wikstroemia lanceolata
(Thymelaeaceae). The leaves are opposite, with distinctly
swollen nodes. I took pictures of three commelinids, only one
of which I was able to ID - Pollia
secundiflora.
The plot site I went to first was in the Dipterocarp plantation.
The forest understory was full of saplings that I couldn't
identify. While I was wandering around I found a short shrub
in bloom - Anaxagorea
luzoniensis (Annonaceae). All the IDs that I've
been able to
do have been from Dr. Fernando et al.'s flora of Mt. Makiling, which is
not for sale. That is, all the IDs except my Gomphandra luzoniensis
finds. I carefully studied a sapling that was grown in the
forestry nursery, and I was able to find about half a dozen G. luzoniensis
saplings in the forest, though I couldn't find the parent tree.
I found a few more things in bloom and some other wildlife.
Even though I can't identify them, I'm concentrating on
things in flower because my chances of identifying them to genus or at
list family are a lot better than for the many species that aren't in
bloom. The blue-flowered Torenia
grew by the edge of the trail, as did the introduced Talinum triangulare.
A group of
insect-infested
gilled mushrooms were growing on a
rotting log, right near a giant land snail and a very large bug of some
sort. Large butterflies were everywhere - I was actually
startled by one because I thought it was a small rodent running by.
Last updated: January 5, 2007
