Myristica cagayanensis

Common Names: Cagayan Nutmeg (English), 蘭嶼肉豆蔻 (Chinese)
Scientific Name: Myristica cagayanensis Merr. [1]
Family: Myristicaceae [1]
Natural Distribution: Cagayan Province (Philippines), Green Island (Taiwan) and Orchid Island (Taiwan) [2]
Natural Habitat: Lowland rainforest
Description: Evergreen tree that can grow to around 20 m tall. [2] Trunks usually tawny in colour. The leathery alternate leaves are around 15-20 cm x 5-7 cm (length by width) for male plants and 20-40 cm x 8-12 cm (length by width) for female plants. [3]
Flowers: Dioecious species (male and female plants separate). The creamy small bell-flowers bloom at around September. [3]
Seeds: The roughly 3-4 cm dark brown seeds are recalcitrant and need to be sown as fresh as possible. The seed nuts are enwrapped by a red aril, contained inside an orange husk, which splits open when ripe.

This species used to be classified under Myristica ceylanica var. cagayanensis, however some scholars have noted differences and placed this species as its own. Cagayan nutmeg seems to be inedible and not much culinary record is available for this species of nutmeg. This species may be threatened due to habitat destruction. In Taiwan, this species is sometimes planted as ornamental/street trees. The fruit is rich in oil and is called “gago” by the Tao people of Orchid Island, which means fire-lighting lamp-oil. The seeds are reportedly rich in lignan-type compounds such as cagayanin, otobain, otobanone and more. [4]

Because the seeds are so recalcitrant, it was really hard to find fresh seeds that could germinate, a lot of the seeds I’ve collected in the past would end up rotting or have already been chewed up by squirrels. Fortunately, two seeds I’ve collected this time from street trees were quite fresh and were able to germinate. I did at first hydrate the seeds in water first overnight and then placed in Sphagnum moss until germination, which took just under 2 weeks.

2021/06/17, Myristica cagayanensis fresh seeds collected

Arenga pinnata

Common Names: Sugar Palm, Zuckerpalme, Kaong, Kabung, Pohon Enau, Cây Báng, ตาว, 사탕야자, サトウヤシ, 桄榔, 砂糖椰子
Scientific Name: Arenga pinnata (Wurmb) Merr. [1]
Family: Arecaceae [1]
Natural Distribution: Northeastern India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Southern China, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Western Indonesia and Philippines. [2] Considered invasive in Eastern Africa. [2]
Natural Habitat: Lowland rainforest up to wet forest at 1,400 m in elevation.
Description: Evergreen tree that can grow to around 20 m tall. [3] Leaf pinnate and can be up to a couple of meters long.
Flower: Monoecious. Starts to flower and fruit at around 10-15 years old and can flower for several years even if untapped. [3] This palm is monocarpic and so once it flowers and fruits, it dies. Flowers yellow.
Seeds: Fruits turn yellow when mature. The black recalcitrant seeds are roughly 2.5 cm by 1.5 cm. The fleshy fruit can cause skin irritation.

The palm is well-known for its sweet sap and is used to make palm sugar. It is quite an important crop in their natural distribution. Tapping the sap can be tricky as tapping too much would cause exhaustion and possibly death. Under-tapping would cause the tree to continue the flowering process, and as the tree is monocarpic, the tree would reach its life-expectancy faster. Usually only the male inflorescence is tapped, and one inflorescence can produce around 5 litres of sap a day. [3] The sap can also yield alcohol and be used for biofuel. [4] The cooked sap produces mainly nitrogenous heterocyclic compounds like pyrazine derivatives (such as 5-methyl-6,7-dihydro-5H-cyclopenta pyrazine), which are responsible for the nutty-flavour, while the caramel-like aroma are primarily attributed to furan derivatives such as furaneol. [5] The sap is comprised of around 10-13% sugar (mostly sucrose). [6]

2019/01/09, Arenga pinnata fruits and seeds.

Hymenaea courbaril

Common Names: Jatobá, West Indian Locust Bean, Courbaril, Guapinol, 孿葉豆, 南美叉葉樹
Scientific Name: Hymenaea courbaril L. [1]
Family: Fabaceae/Leguminosae (Subfamily: Detarioideae) [2]
Natural Distribution: Central to South America, including some Caribbean islands. [3, 4]
Natural Habitat: Tropical rainforest, usually along riverbanks, tropical dry forests, subtropical rainforests and tropical montane forests. [3, 5]
Description: Evergreen tree that can grow to 40m tall. Larger specimens with trunk of around 1m in diameter. Bark whitish and rather smooth. Leaves bifoliate smooth and can grow up to 12 cm long and 7 cm wide. [5]
Flower: Inflorescence terminal. The creamy white flowers are bisexual. The flower has 4 distinct sepals, 5 petals and around 10 stamens. [5]
Seeds: Fruits at about 10 years old in natural environment. [5] Fruit pods are oblong can get more than 10 cm long. Orthodox brown seeds with hard seed coats are about 2cm in length and are surrounded by a creamy and powdery pulp layer. In their native range in the Amazon, the seeds can be dispersed by agoutis and other terrestrial mammals.

In modern society, this hardwood tree is most commonly used as timber, which yields excellent durable wood. In their native range, locals use the gum from this tree. The bark is reported to be used by indigenous Amazonians for medicinal purposes. [5] The pulp is edible raw or cooked and is described as sweetish but powdery.

I was really fortunate to be able to collect the fruits of jatobá. In 2019 January at Meinong Shuangxi Tropical Arboretum in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. A bit of scrambling in the woods allowed me to find some seeds. It appears that the tree does not fruit every year at this location or at least the production varies considerably every year, it may be affected by precipitation levels.

2019/01/05, Hymenaea courbaril sapling near the mother tree at Meinong Shuangxi Tropical Arboretum in Kaohsiung (美濃雙溪樹木園).

Garcinia subelliptica

Common Names: Happiness Tree/Philippine Fortune Tree/Fukugi Tree (English), フクギ (Japanese), 福木/菲島福木 (Chinese)
Scientific Name: Garcinia subelliptica Merr. [1]
Family: Clusiaceae [1]
Natural Distribution: Japan’s Ryukyu Islands (some say they were introduced by the early Ryukyuans), Taiwan (Green Island, Orchid Island and possibly Hengchun Peninsula) and Philippines (Babuyan Islands, Luzon). [2, 3]
Natural Habitat: Lowland tropical and subtropical rainforest or coastal rainforests
Description: Evergreen tree that usually grows to around 10-15 m max. Long, smooth, elliptical, opposite leaves are around 10-15 cm long and 5-8 cm wide. [4, 5]
Flower: Monoecious, but sometimes dioecious too. Numerous flowers when blooming. Flowers are small and have white (pale greenish yellow) petals, around 1cm in diameter. Flowering occurs around April-May.
Fruits: The ripe fruit is yellow and has a pungent smell. Fruit is reportedly edible. Each fruit usually has 2-3 seeds within but can hold up to 5. Fruit is around 3-5 cm in diameter.  [3, 4] Fruiting occurs in summer around July-August.
Seeds: Seeds are recalcitrant [3]. General rule is that most Garcinia species have recalcitrant seeds and they may take several weeks to germinate (even if temperatures are cool but still moist). The roundish elliptical seed grows to roughly 4 cm wide.

Hydnocarpus anthelminthicus

Common Names: Chaulmoogra Tree (English), Đại Phong Tử (Vietnamese), กระเบา (Thai), 大風子/驅蟲大風子 (Chinese)
Scientific Name: Hydnocarpus anthelminthicus Pierre ex Laness. [1]
Family: Achariaceae [1]
Natural Distribution: Indochinese Region (Cambodia, Guangxi and Yunnan provinces of China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam) [2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
Natural Habitat: Lowland evergreen tropical forests [6]
Description: Evergreen tree that grows up to 20-30 metres tall and up to 50cm in diameter. Bark is greyish. [7] The lanceolate, coriaceous, oblong, glabrous leaves are simple and they alternate, roughly 10-30cm long by around 3-7cm wide. [3, 7, 8]
Flower: Some individuals are monoecious, some individuals are dioecious. [7, 8, 9] Flowers are unisexual. [7, 8, 9]
Fruits: The orange-brown fruits range from 8-15cm in diameter and can contain up to 100 seeds depending on the fruit size, usually half of that amount.  Fruit shell not difficult to open. Fruits take about half a year to develop and ripen. [9]
Seeds: The dark-brownish seeds are used to produce and chaulmoogra oil. The seed is poisonous. The seed is classified as intermediate storage, being able to be stored for a short period of time (perhaps that is to do with its long germination period). [10] It will start sprouting at the right conditions (hot and humid). Seed has hard shell and are about 1-2cm long.

Historically, the plant was regarded as medicinal and the seed oil called chaulmoogra oil is used to treat leprosy and various skin disorders, however its application may not be objectively substantiated. [11] One proposed mechanism of action may be the activation of lipases in the body to destroy foreign lipids, which includes the cell walls of Mycobacterium leprae, the bacterium that causes leprosy. [11] Another claim states that the chaulmoogra oil causes phagocytes to aggregate near the bacterium. [11] Some others say that the cyclopentenyl fatty acids in the oil are the main contributor to the antimicrobial effect of chaulmoogra oil. [10] The oils from the seeds contain fatty acids such as chaulmoogric, gorlic, hydnocarpic, oleic and palmitic acid. [5] Another constituent called hydnocarpin is a flavonolignan that has exhibited promising anticancer properties. [11] Nowadays the tree is mostly planted primarily as an ornamental tree.

To make sure that the fruit is indeed ripe, I suggest to collect fruits that have already fallen. The white pulp inside goes rancid really quickly so don’t leave them around in the balcony or backyard like I did and get rid off it straight away and wash the seeds.

2019/01/06 – Hydnocarpus anthelminthicus ripe fruit which was already opened. I then quickly went to process the seeds.

Sindora supa

Common Names: Supa/Balayong/Manopo (Various names in the Philippines), 菲律賓白鶴豆/斯帕樹/蘇白豆 (Chinese)
Scientific Name: Sindora supa Merr.
Family: Fabaceae/Leguminosae (Subfamily: Detarioideae)
IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
Natural Distribution: Philippines (Luzon, Mindoro)
Natural Habitat: Low elevation tropical rainforest, tropical limestone forest
Description: Monoecious, deciduous tree up to 20m (some say 30m). Although it is said to be deciduous, I have never seen them shed massive amounts of leaves. Rarely do trunk diametre reach to about 1.5m, and the tree does not form buttresses. Bark can grow up to 1cm thick. The plant grows stipules that are about 1cm (if two combines it forms a heart shape). Paripinnate compound leaf consists of 3-4 sets of leaflets. Each glabrous, elliptical leaflet up to 9cm long and 5cm wide. 
Flower: Axillary or terminal panicle bisexual inflorescence up to 15cm long. 4 sepals, 1 petal, both yellowish green and have long filaments (which will form the spikes of the fruit). Stamens (about 2cm) are pinkish and only about 10. Flowering season around April, fruits usually produced by September. 
Seeds: Seed storage is orthodox. Can store in ambient temperature (preferably low moisture) for 1-2 years without dramatically affecting viability. The mature black seed pods are more or less flat ovate shaped, with numerous spikes (tip of prickles have resins emerging), and can grow up to 5cm long/wide. Each seed pod contains 1-3 seeds. The black, shiny, roughly 1.5cm seed has fleshy arils attached. 

This is a very endangered tree endemic to the Philippines, with decreasing population due to logging and habitat loss. The wood is heavy and is aromatic, it is especially prized for flooring. The tree also yields aromatic yellow oil, and so probably why it is also known as kerosene tree. The oil is also used as folk medicine or as an illuminant. This is a sun-loving tree. There are many local names in the Philippines, but Supa seems to be the commonest way to call this tree.

For Taiwan, this species was first introduced to Kaohsiung City’s Meinong Shuangshi Tropical Viviparous Forest (高雄美濃雙溪熱帶樹木園) by Japanese botanist, Sasaki Shunichi (佐々木舜一) for experimental purposes in 1935. Apparently this species has infiltrated the tropical Queensland rainforest near Cairns, Australia, not sure if it is invasive.

Fruit pod and seed of Sindora supa collected. This photo was taken on 2019/01/07. The seed has already been scarred and left in Sphagnum moss, and then it started to expand (germination) a few days before this photo was taken.

Dillenia indica

Common Names: Elephant Apple (English), Simpoh (Malay), चलता (Hindi), চালতা (Bengali), သပြုပင် (Burmese), มะตาด (Thai), 오아과 (Korean), 五椏果/第倫桃 (Chinese)
Scientific Name: Dillenia indica L.
Family: Dilleniaceae
Natural Distribution: Assam (India), Himalayan Foothill (Nepal, Bhutan), Northern Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar,  Yunnan Province (China), Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia (West of Wallace’s Line)
Natural Habitat: Low elevation tropical valley and stream forests under 1,000m
Description: Monoecious evergreen tree growing up to 20-30m tall. Leaves simple, with distinctive lateral veins that look like furrows. Leaf length can exceed 30cm long. Bark flaky and reddish. Buttressed roots not prominent.
Flower: White bisexual flowers with 5 petals are produced annually from about May to September. Numerous yellow stamens surround the central styles (numerous ovules).  Flower diametre can reach 20cm. 
Seeds: Large round yellow fruit can grow to 15cm in diametre (the sepals aggregate and form the large fruit). Fruit mature during Northern Hemisphere’s winter, about December to March (or even later). Fruits can weigh more than 1kg.  Seed itself is creamy-coloured but surrounded by brownish red short hairs. The falling fruit can be hazardous if trees are tall. Large herbivores in the forest help with propagation (but not necessary). Germination usually takes 1-3 months. Seed is about 0.5cm long and are probably recalcitrant.

Dillenia indica can be easily distinguished from other tropical plants because of its distinctive leaves and fruit. It prefers a warm humid climate. If intended for consumption, the fruit (sepal part) is mixed into curry dishes or the slimy inner part (the true fruit) is made into jelly. However this tree is mainly planted for ornamental purposes in tropical and subtropical climate zones (most likely frost tender, probably cannot grow well if winter daytime regularly dips below 5°C/41°F). The fruit has a distinctive fermented scent. Its timber is probably used on a local scale. 

2018/05/19, the collected Dillenia indica fruit from 2 days ago was cut open. The outside hard-fleshy part encapsulates the inner true fruit (the foldy pulp bits). The seeds are found within those inner yellow envelope-like structures.

Barringtonia racemosa

Common Names: Poeierkwasboom (Afrikaans), Common Putat (English), Putat Sungei (Malay), সমুন্দরফল (Bengali), จิกสวน (Thai), サガリバナ (Japanese), 玉蕊/水茄苳/穗花棋盤腳 (Chinese)
Scientific Name: Barringtonia racemosa (L.) Spreng.
Family: Lecythidaceae
Natural Distribution: South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal), Mozambique, Tanzania, Somalia, Madagascar, Seychelles, India, Sri Lanka, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Southeast Asia, Southern China (including Hainan Island), Ryukyu Island (Southward starting from Amami Islands), Taiwan, Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia, Northeastern Australia
Natural Habitat: Tropical and subtropical coastal and mangrove forests
Description: Evergreen tree usually around 10m tall at most. Alternate obovate-oblong simple leaves are glossy when mature, can grow up to 35cm long and about 15cm wide, and is pointy at the tip. The red new shoots are papery, gradually growing greener glossier. Leaves crown at the tip of branches.
Flower: Axillary inflorescence in the form of pendulous raceme. In summer the plant begins to bloom attractive whitish to pale pink bisexual flowers (4 red sepals, 4 pale pink petals and lots of whitish to pale pink stamens). Peduncle can reach 80cm. The nectar attracts pollinators including moths and bats.
Seeds: Oval-shaped fruit is light brownish with creases (from the lobes of flower). The fibrous outer coating makes the seed buoyant. The single seed inside the fruit is recalcitrant (but the seed can still germinate after months in the sea).  Quite some number of fruits are seedless. Sometimes the ripe fruit stays on the tree for a long time, but most fruits mature and drop during the first few months of the year. 

This is a very widespread species. They are dispersed by water, such as the sea or river. In their natural distribution, seedlings can be found on beach shores. They can tolerate saline soils but probably grow best along freshwater rivers. 

2018/01/25, this is one of the 2 Barringtonia racemosa seeds I have planted. The medium I used was clay soil and potting mix (about 1 to 1). I left some Sphagnum moss on top just in case the top dried out. I heard that this species loves it moist so I watered it everyday.

Hevea brasiliensis

Common Names: Rubber tree/Pará rubber tree (English), Seringueira (Portuguese), Pokok Getah (Malay), Cây Cao su (Vietnamese), रबड़ (Hindi), ยางพารา (Thai), パラゴムノキ (Japanese), 巴西橡膠樹 (Chinese)
Scientific Name: Hevea brasiliensis (Willd. ex A.Juss.) Müll.Arg.
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Natural Distribution: Amazon (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru)
Natural Habitat: More often in tropical rainforest riverbanks and areas with periodic flooding, ranging up to 2,000m above sea level. 
Description: Deciduous tropical mid-canopy to canopy tree that can grow over 30m in the wild (usually less than 15-20m in plantation), capable of growing branchless for at least 10m from base. The trunk can grow to 3m in diametre. Smooth palmate/trifoliate leaves in form of 3 leaflets; mature leaflets can grow over 30cm long. Petioles around 15cm. Can shed leaves once or twice a year, usually during Northern Hemisphere’s spring and or autumn (depends on local climate, usually just before rainy season), and before shedding the leaves starts to lose its green colour, turning yellowish and then finally turning red. 
Flower: Plant is monoecious. Flowers late spring in Northern Hemisphere (somewhere between late March to late May), and can flower up to twice a year. Flowering period is about a 2 weeks. Inflorescence paniculate axillary, flowers yellow to cream coloured. Female flowers have 3 carpels.  Usually more male flowers than females and female flowers usually slightly larger. Flower has sweet scent. 
Seeds: The 2-3cm long and wide seeds are brown with irregular black spots/stripes and has lustre. The recalcitrant seeds and should be sown as soon as possible (starts losing viability within a week). Fruiting season normally around September but can start earlier or extend to the next year. Mature fruit pod has 3 lobes (each lobe with one seed) is brown and roughly 6-7cm long. The seeds are toxic as they contain linamarin, which when ingested gets converted into the toxic hydrogen cyanide. Method of dispersal is through the ripe fruits bursting open to release the seeds. 

The rubber tree or Pará rubber tree is one of the primary source of natural rubber and is still commercially produced. The rubber from Hevea brasiliensis are manufactured to make some of the commonly seen daily products such as tyres, condoms, rubber gloves etc. Natural rubber plantations exists throughout the tropics around the world,  and the top 8 producing countries are all within tropical Asia. Thailand is currently the largest producer of natural rubber followed by Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Vietnam. This species is considered naturalized in some tropical countries around the world where it was initially introduced for harvesting natural rubber (considered as weed in Eastern African countries). The latex is harvested from trees older than 6-8 years old. The harvester (also known as tapper) makes multiple diagonal slits along the bark of the tree and let the latex sap drip into the collecting cups. The quality of natural rubber usually makes it a better choice than the cheaper synthetic rubber. There are sophisticated ways to grow the rubber trees in certain conditions to produce latex of higher quality. In the past years as the automobile industry grew, so did the demand for rubber plantations, which provided invaluable income to those in poverty, however the continual expansion of rubber monoculture plantations has some concerning environmental impact. Aside from the latex, the seeds are a source of oil and the wood can be a source of charcoal. 

2018/01/04, lucky fresh seed I collected on the 3rd of January 2018. This fresh seed still has the “shine”. There weren’t many seeds when I looked under the tree, most were rotten, some were infested with bugs.

Anthurium vittariifolium

Scientific Name: Anthurium vittariifolium Engl.
Family: Araceae
Natural Distribution: Tropical South American Amazon
Natural Habitat: Wet humid rainforest.
Description: Evergreen pendent epiphytic plant. Mature smooth matted-green leaves can grow to lengths of 1 to 2 meters. The leaves can grow to 10 cm wide at the widest points. 
Seeds: Seeds are probably recalcitrant and might have a complicated storage method (I have never seen or heard of people buying Anthurium seeds). The ripe fruit is bright reddish-magenta-pink-coloured and the mesocarp is slightly sticky. Seeds are roughly 5mm long.

All parts of the plant is toxic to ingest (same for cats and dogs) as the sap contains calcium oxalate and various irritants that may cause serious inflammatory response along the digestive tracts and other parts of the body. Prolonged dermal exposure to the sap can cause itching and the irritants can even be absorbed through the skin into the body. 

Prefers partial to complete shade, making it a good greenhouse or indoor plant. I am not sure how hardy this species is, so even when substantially developed and matured, I will still keep this species indoors in a subtropical region. When I got the seeds I didn’t plant them straight away (a little busy), so I left the seeds in the fruit (I feel that this prevents the seed from germinating without affecting its viability). 

2018/05/19, Fruits collected on 2018/05/18.