Botanical Specimen
The Mabolo (Diospyros discolor) (Tagálog, Mabolo, also Talang) is a fruit of great external beauty and exquisite aroma. It is about the size of a large peach, the pubescent skin being of a fine red colour, but it is not very good eating. Chillies (Capsicum minimum, Blanco), Ginger (Zingiber officinale, Linn.), Capsicums (Capsicum tetragonum, Mill), Capers (Capparris mariana) and Vanilla are found in a wild state. Sago is produced in small quantities in Mindoro Island, where the sago-plant flourishes. The pith is cut out, washed, sun-dried, and then pounded. The demand for this nutritious article is very limited. In 1904 I found the Cassava plant growing near the south coast of Mindanao Island.
There are many other kinds of orchard and wild fruits of comparatively inferior quality, chiefly used by the natives to make preserves. There is also a large variety of tuberose and other vegetable products, never eaten by Europeans, such as the favourite Síncamas (Decandria—Pachyrhizus angulatus), resembling a small turnip. The natives have a taste for many fruits plucked half ripe.
The Flowers of these Islands are too numerous for their description to come within the scope of this work. To the reader who seeks an exhaustive treatise on the Botany of the Philippines, I would recommend Manuel Blancoʼs “Flora de Filipinas,”[14] from which I have taken the following brief notes.
Philippine Flowers
According to Manuel Blanco
| Orders. | Genera. | Species. | Varieties. | Sub-varieties. | |
| Dicotyledones | 126 | 842 | 2,571 | 349 | 5 |
| Monocotyledones | 26 | 325 | 1,425 | 270 | 25 |
| Acotyledones | 3 | 56 | 483 | 11 | — |
| 155 | 1,223 | 4,479 | 630 | 30 |
Some of the most curious and beautiful botanical specimens, not already described in the preceding pages, are the following, viz.:—
Arum (?) divaricatum, Linn. (Tagálog, Gabigabihán).—A delicate bulb. Common in Pasig and Manila.