Fruit trees and others.

i'm still not very over about photo posts, but this may be the last one since it would take time before i could finish the 36 shots of the film i loaded in my camera. I have turned meticulous in choosing when and what to photograph since i've had that camera. as a result, i became more relax and stopped crying over spilled milk. or maybe i still haven't found and lost a shot that i so badly wanted to get. 

last weekend i chatted with a friend over her not getting the kind of wedding picture package that she wanted. to which, i suggested she filed an official complaint, which she did not want to and had no plans of doing. that was so me, and it was so her. my conclusion and recommendations was that pictures that never were captured are not meant to be captured. and that if they are special enough, they should deserve a space in our memories. I don't think she fully understood what i meant especially that she belongs to a group that are so enamored by wedding photos and wedding celebrations and telling everyone you have a wedding, while i belong to those that prefer to keep our vows and important moments private. 

(AND, I think that that this mulling over requires a separate post but just to tell you--that's what i meant by not crying over spilled milk. the shots are forever lost, move on--or marry your wedding album, instead.) 

the following are the plants in my parents' house that i took pictures of. just for posterity.

cacao. chocolates are made of these. They belong to the family STERCULIACEAE.
(Theobroma cacao). 

and the tree. cocao tree.

baston ni san hosep (literally, cane of st. joseph) from the Family Agavaceae.

(Cordyline fructicosa (L.) A. Cheval.)
(Taetsia fructicosa (L.) Merr.)
A good profile of this is found in this PDF file.

native santan. the kind that grows tall.
(Ixora coccinea)

MISnamed to be morning glory.

if you may tell me the name of this?

organic tomatoes not ripe for picking. the key to having good tomatoes is to pick them when they're mature enough. the one they sell at the supermarket are picked way before the proper time so they easily spoil. after having tasted organic, sun-ripe tomatoes, i never want to buy tomatoes from the supermarket again.
Lycopersicon esculentum--the general scientific name. i have no idea what the variety of the tomatoes in our backyard is.

chili plant. Organic also. we use the leaves to cook (native) chicken tinola. I never learned to cook chicken tinola properly having been pesco-lacto-vegetarian for a long time but i use them to cook the nylon shells with. they make a difference in the taste, compared to those without chili leaves.  

chilis. in Hiligaynon: KUTITOT. in Karay-a: katumbal. in Tagalog: Siling Labuyo.
in english: Cayenne, from this site.
(Capsicum frutescens)
FIlipinos usually preserve it with vinegar to make the vinegar spicier. That concoction we call SINAMAK.
i'm not a fan of sinamak since my tolerance for things spicy is vey very low. 

male papaya flower. slightly different infloresence from that of the female papaya. long penducles.

male papaya plant.
(Carica papaya)

female papaya flower. solo flight all the time. sticks close to the trunk. short penduncles.

female papaya tree.

"A male papaya is distinguished by the smaller flowers borne on long stalks. Female flowers of papaya are pear shaped when unopened, and distinguished from bisexual flowers which are cylindrical." 
From this Papaya site.
Our backyard did not have a bisexual papaya, unfortunately.

local basil we call "kalu-oy". From family Lamiaceae.
Ocimum basilicum
english: sweet basil
although i remain unsure because this BALANOY looks italian basil to me.

laurel plant. where you get your bay leaf.
we commonly call it REKADO. or LAUREL.
(Laurus nobilis) From the family Lauraceae.

bay leaf.

organic jackfruit.
Artocarpus heterophyllus or A. heterophyll
From the family Moraceae.
LANGKA is what we call a person exhibiting unbearable dumbness.

kaffir lime plant. Cabuyao?
(Citrus hystrix)
this plant is an import. i haven't seen anybody in our town growing this.
which is true because nobody in town cooks using this plant (leaves or fruit).

chico buds and flower.
Achras sapota Linn.


FIN.

Ghosts of Childhood

(featuring the flowers of Antique, Philippines)


August 30 was a National Heroes' Day, therefore a national holiday. On August 27, my family left our house in the city for a long-weekend at my parents' place in Antique. Borrowing my father's digital point-and-shoot, i went around taking macro shots of the common weeds, flowers, trees -- plants! -- found in our residential lot and in our farm land across the river. 

My knowledge in basic biology came handy.

I wish though i knew how to take landscape photographs but the point and shoot is limiting and much as i wanted to, the stitched panorama i took were not what i wanted. 

On the bus on the way home, I told Keith of the my dream shots. this part requires a separate post. So here...now...are the plants of Antique in their boldest form:

Unidentified ornamental plant.

Unidentified but very common weed. 

Young corn with blazing hair.

si-o si-o. Thought to be the chinese lantern (Physalis alkekengi) plant but most chinese lantern plants i saw were red. this barely gets orange when ripe. or maybe it depends on the variety?  

  

unidentified grass

baho baho (tagalog: lantana; kantutay) (english: coronitas) (Lantana camara L.)

squash -- the fruit -- field. and beyond that, the Sibalom River.

String beans. With pickers. 
These string beans landed on our plates that night -- and eventually inside our stomach.

Unidentified grass usually found in the river banks.

Withered flower of an unidentified grass.

Red kulitis in its perfect adaptation form.

Flower and a miniature fruit of the garangan (tagalog: balimbing) (english: star fruit)
(Averrhoa carambola)

Flower of the batwan/batuan tree (tagalog: binukau) (Garcinia binucao).

Used to make dishes sour (like how some people use the tamarind).

Buds of the mansanilya flower (Chrysanthemum indicum)

 

Flower of the shrub tugabang (tagalog: saluyot) (english: jute) (Corchorus capsularis L.). 
Also a favorite vegetable.

Wax begonia, the pink variety (Begonia semperflorens)

My mother tells me this is also begonia but really?
Kinda bears no resemblance from that pink wax begonia above.

            

Flower and leaves of this vine are very similar to ampalaya (Momordica charantia) -- similar in taste too! -- but apparently this is not a bitter gourd judging by its orange fruit (not to mention that it looks much closer to a puffer fish than the actual bitter gourd).

Remaining flower parts of the plant we call "marya marya". 
Its round fruits are as big as the typical marbles, usually green, and turns to orange when ripe. 
Collecting and eating the marya marya fruits during summer is a big part of most Antique's kids' childhood.

Kasla (Jatropha curcas)

Unidentified plant

Alusiman (english: Purslane) (Portulaca olearacea L.) -- but this needs to be verified further

Unidentified grass

Will have to recall the name of this tree

Kulitis (english: Amaranth) (Amaranthus spinosus L.). One of my favorite vegetables.

Called "bariri"and when you search this scientific names comes out: Panicum stagninum Retz. 

I have a feeling it's not it.

Okra (english: lady fingers) (Hibiscus esculentis)

C-o-c-o-n-u-t! (Cocos Nucifera)

Monggo/Munggo (english: mung bean) (Vigna radiata)

flower of the corn

2 kinds of Zea Mays.

Corn field. When i took this shot, the farmer is out there, harvesting some corns for us. 
the corn, just like the string beans, landed on our plates and inside our stomach later that day.








Fin.