[1] Bulletin No. 33 of the Bureau of Education, entitled “Philippine Hats.”
[2] This office is indebted to Mr. E. D. Merrill, Botanist, Bureau of Science, Manila, P. I., for placing at its disposal an unpublished manuscript on the Flora of Manila. Information from the following sources is also acknowledged:
- Engler and Prantl: Das Pflanzenreich.
- Hooker’s Flora of British India, 1894.
- Blanco’s Flora de Filipinas, 1877.
The sugar and alcohol produced by the palms are discussed by Dr. H. D. Gibbs in the Journal of Science, Manila, Vol. VI, Sec. A, No. 3. Hats are also discussed by Mr. C. B. Robinson in the same Journal, Vol. VI, Sec. C, No. 2.
[3] Buri (in most localities), buli or búle, silag, ebus.
[4] It is probable that some of the double Moro mats which will be described under the heading “Pandan Straws” are woven from buri straw.
[5] Due to the efforts of Elmer D. Merrill and A. D. E. Elmer, Botanists of Manila, aided by Prof. Martelli, of Florence, Italy, our knowledge of Philippine pandans has been greatly broadened. It is hoped that interested persons into whose hands this paper may come will help to extend it by sending specimens of pandans for identification to the Bureau of Education, Manila. Such specimens should consist of the ripe fruit and of at least two full-grown leaves from which no spines or tips have been removed, and which have been cut as close as possible to the stem.
[6] Bulletin No. 33, Bureau of Education. Journal of Science, Manila, Vol. VI, Sec. C, No. 2.
[7] To settle, if possible, the question of whether sabutan flowers and fruits, inquiries and investigations on the ground were made in Tanay and Pililla by a representative of the General Office of the Bureau of Education. The people interviewed in these towns were positive in their statements that they had never seen the fruit of this pandan though they did remember seeing the flower. Every possible effort was made to get accurate, reliable information. An old man was engaged as guide and a male inflorescence of sabutan was found in a patch located on a hillside, under the shade of trees and surrounded by considerable underbrush. The patch, according to the statement of the old man was older than he could remember; the age of the guide was, perhaps, between sixty and seventy years. The flowers were odorous and covered with small brown insects almost hiding the inflorescence.
[8] Plain double pandan mats, the material of which resembles sabutan, are imported from Singapore and sold by Chinese storekeepers in Manila in large quantities. They are roughly made and the fact that they are double permits the unfinished edges to be turned under and sewed down with coarse red cotton twine. They sell for a little less than the plain, single, Tanay sabutan mats with finished edges.