Saturday, January 23, 2010

Some Red Flowers to Watch For

The malabulak trees are in bloom. Malabulak, Bombax ceiba, is an argued Philippine native closely related to kapok or Ceiba pentandrum (which is not a Philippine native). They usually flower in February so about this time, specimens are leaf deprived but full of buds waiting to burst into five petalled large flowers as big as the palm of your hand. A tree in full bloom is really a sight to behold.

If you are interested to see flowering specimens, wild trees could be seen growing along coastal areas, confirmed sightings particularly in Bolinao, Pangasinan (in UP Marine Science facilities) and in Libaong Beach, Bohol. For UP studes, Prof Ed Gomez planted a few trees in the College of Science complex. Two are starting to bloom.

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