Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Towering Toog Trees


Have you seen the toog trees in UPLB? They are located near the mouth of the Mt Makiling Forest Reserve. We were following the almost impossible mud trail going to the Makiling mudsprings when we stumbled upon the majestic towering trees. They are a sight to behold. It reminded me of the artificial forest of tall mahoganies in Bohol - but the toogs of Makiling is just a small cluster comprised of about ten or a little more trees while the artificial forest of bohol extend a few hundred meters. AND... toog is a native species and mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) is NOT.

Toog or Petersianthus quadrialatus is a native of the Philippines, said to be still abundant in the Caraga region of Mindanao, in provinces of Agusan and Surigao. The large tree could grow to as much as 60 meters with more than a meter trunk diameter. The wood i hear is good lumber. from what i heard is that a full day would not be enough for two lumberjacks to fall a fullgrown toog tree.


I first heard of toog from Susan Topacio who manages Jardin Isabel over at CP Garcia. She is a resident of Surigao and remembers the toog interrupting the landscapes of her youth. She gives the adjectives beautiful, very tall and majestic to simply describe the tree. I keep on imagining the tree species lulling over the Subic rainforest (which to this day i still have not had time to confirm the identity). So it was quite surprising to find toog near Manila (in Makiling) and finally give a definite image of the species.


Toog is not native to Makiling. Some UPLB people planted the trees years ago in the forest reserve to give forestry students an idea of its scale. I just heard that the Makiling Toogs has recently been considered as a UPLB Heritage tree along with the famous Leaning Dao. A marker was installed to signify the importance of this natural Philippine wonder.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

i wonder where can we get seedlings of this wonderful tree.

thank you in advance

Unknown said...

Yes, where can we find seedlings of this tree?

Mac said...

Cainta Plant Nursery has it!