Tree Of The Month (PART1)

Physical Characteristics

Malapapaya tree reaches a height of about 25 meters and a diameter of 50 centimeters, usually with a cylindrical bole.

Its outer bark is whitish or creamish-white.

The leaves are simply pinnate, crowded on twig-apices and each measures from one to two centimeters long, with 14 to 20 pairs of leaflets. The leaflet is ovate-oblong to lanceolate with short acuminate base, crenate-serrate margins, and measure 10-25 cm x 4-10 cm.

Inflorescences are panicles about 1.5 centimeters long with sessile, yellow-green flowers about two centimeters long.

The fruits are sub-globose ridges and yellowish, has red, persistent calyx, and five-ribbed when dry.

Distribution

Malapapaya can be found in Benguet, Pangasinan, Zambales, Rizal, Bulacan, Laguna, Quezon, Sorsogon, Mindoro, Palawan, Leyte, Surigao, and Basilan. It also grows in moist areas along gullies and creeks. Open thickets and secondary forests are ideal places for plantation establishment for this tree.

Method of propagation

The species is propagated mainly by seeds. Wildlings from mother trees are also collected for nursery rearing and planting purposes.

Contemporary use

The malapapaya wood is commercially used in the Philippines for making fancy woodwork, boxes, pencil slats, chopsticks, matchsticks, ice cream spoons, plywood, native wooden shoes, lollipop and popsicle sticks, toothpicks, and similar articles.

Traditional use

The leaves are powdered and applied as fish poison or used medicinally against purpuric fever and as a contraceptive.

How to plant your malapapaya 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 malapapaya 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]. - THE FREEMAN