Luha soltero : Flowers for the broken hearted

Luha soltero (translates literally as single man's tears) is the local name of these flowers so said the two elderly women from Odikin (Barangay Santa Barbara, Bulusan) as they name one by one the masitas (ornamental plants) in a village garden. Why so? I asked. "The flowers are for  lovelorn men -- men with broken hearts," related the the two. But when I asked where are the flowers for women with broken hearts. The two seniors looked at me with a smile as if telling me that there is no such flower. We smiled at the thought.

Photos: Alma P. Gamil
            Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines

Scarlet beauty

Growing wild along the curved highway of Porog is this eye catcher red clump of what seemed to be little berries but as soon as these opens turn into minute flowers with interesting features.

To anyone from Bulusan who is familiar and knows exactly the local name of this indigenous flower,  I will appreciate it much if it can reach me via comment or my contact info. Much thanks in advance.


Photos: Alma P. Gamil
Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines

Stopping by for the familiar flowers

Cosmos sulphureus in our midst. Always present to delight us whether you take notice or not.

In my recent posts to the CDFP (Co's Digital Flora of the Philippines), I focused on the ordinary and the familiar plants seen just around the corner of the Poblacion. It is not because I have not done much of forest and mountain trekking lately to get more photos of the rare and unique Bulusan flora but because I believe that  these common and familiar plants  need also the attention it deserve. They have been around for hundreds or more years in our hometown and no one has even bothered or even had the time to stop and know more about them except of course the local parabolong (folkloric herbal healers). However, their focus are more on the medicinal plants not the ordinary ornamentals commonly seen around in rural homes and gardens.

One of these plants is the cosmos (photos) flowering profusely it seems all-year round and displaying colors of varying yellows along the road, in backyards, in churchyard, in cemeteries - almost everywhere. When I was still in my grade school years, we used to call these flowers as 'kosmos' with the additional description  typically coming from innocent yet irreverent kids : 'an burak na mahangot' (the flower that has this unpleasant smell). Fast forward to this week - I tried smelling  these  flowers at the church yard but it seems that the variety growing now-a-days has a neutral scent or it was just my sense of smell failing me this time?

Back to my post at CDFP - a member, expert in identifying names of ornamentals in the Philippines described  the flowering plant as not native  but imported from the tropical Americas. Scientific name according to another member is Cosmos sulphureus. The family was already submitted by me : Family Asteraceae. The probability that the Acapulco-Philippines galleon route three to four hundred years ago has something to do with this flowering plant is not remote. Who knows? All we know is that these flowers were in our midst for as long as our lola (grandmothers) can remember. Perhaps  these flowers are as old as the town itself.

Photos by Alma P. Gamil
Bulusan, Sorsogon
Philippines

Katmon

The katmon tree does not grow into a very large tree making it ideal for backyard gardens.  This one is wild, growing in a farm patch in Odikin (Sta Barbara), Bulusan.

The layers of ornate pistils and the showy white petals attract wild bees and pollinators ensuring continued supply of wild katmon fruits.

While passionate gardeners are already cultivating the katmon as a unique backyard garden plant and for culinary purposes, in Bulusan it is still very much wild. My visit to Odikin (Sta Barbara) yielded several photos of wild katmon along the way. Its showy flowers were a joy to behold whether on top of the canopy or in a flower vase.

Katmon species can be found in primary and secondary forests of the Philippines but it is now cultivated and popular with garden enthusiasts and native tree conservationists. However, it is only in Bulusan that I've heard of two kinds of katmon - the 'lunohan' (soft) kind of katmon, this according to Oya Choleng, a native of Odikin, is the better katmon and the other one is the 'kidit' or the not so soft kind. Both  varieties are growing in their village.

Katmon flower is also a gem for macro photography with its ornate pistil layered in intricate organic forms.

The ASEAN Tropical Plant database listed Katmon as endemic to the Philippines with the following data:

Scientific name	Dillenia philippinensis Rolfe
Family name	Dilleniaceae

Photographs by Alma P. Gamil in Odikin
Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines