Tree of the month - Bangkal (Nauclea orientalis (L.) L.)

Physical Characteristics

Bangkal is a small to fairly large tree that grows up to 35 meters tall.

Its bole is usually straight, which reaches to 80-100 centimeters in diameter. Its bark surface is smooth to irregularly fissured and cracking, sometimes scaly, and is grayish-brown to reddish brown.

The leaves are opposite, simple, entire, and leathery with short petioles.

The flowers are axillary and terminal, have a stalked head with simple peduncles, 4-5-merous, and yellow.

The fruit is connate into an indehiscent globose syncarp. The seed is ovoid to ellipsoid, sometimes slightly bilaterally compressed and not winged.

Distribution

Bangkal grows in lowland and hill forests in up to 1,100 meters in altitude. It also often appears along streams and swampy locations in secondary forests at low and medium altitudes. It is found in most islands and provinces in Batanes and northern Luzon, Palawan, and Mindanao. Small quantities are obtainable, but it is seldom cut for market.

Method of Propagation

Bangkal is propagated by seeds only.

Contemporary Use

The wood is used for light framing, interior joinery, weatherboard, flooring, furniture, cabinet work, moldings, veneer and plywood, sculptures, implements, shuttering, toys, packing cases, and match splints. It is also used for house construction. The wood is considered suitable for making a good pulp for paper production.

Traditional Use

Leaves are applied to boils and tumors. Bark extract is said to be vulnerary, antidiarrhetic, and a cure for toothache. When mixed with dita, it can be used as himughat (as a preventive against bughat, a condition in which a patient falls back to illness after apparent recovery).

How to plant your bangkal seedling

Clear the area where you want to plant your seedling with unwanted weeds and debris. Make sure that a one-meter radius is kept free from other vegetation. Dig a plant hole with dimensions of at least 20 cm x 20 cm x 20 cm. Plant the seedling at proper depth. Root collar should be at level with or a little below the ground surface with the seedling oriented upward. Fill the hole with top or garden soil and press soil firmly around the base of the seedling. In plantation-making, seedlings should maintain a two-meter distance between seedlings if planted in a row of a three-meter distance from one strip to the next strip.

How to take care of your bangkal seedling

Remove grass and other unwanted vegetation and cultivate the soil around the base of the seedling (50 cm radius) once in every quarter for two to three years. Place mulch around the base of the seedling (maintaining the 50 cm radius and using cut grass, leaves, and other suitable materials as mulch base). Prune the branches at most 50 percent of the crown depth, preferably during dry season, and ensure that when pruning, you do not injure the bark. Remove infected or infested vegetation nearby to stop plant diseases from spreading and contaminating your seedling. Monitor regularly the growth of the seedling for presence of pests and diseases.

Data about native tree species are featured by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. For comments and suggestions, e-mail [email protected].