BATAC CITY, Ilocos Norte — The state-run Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) here launched a catalog of indigenous food plants (IFPs) available in the province.
This is to intensify the nationwide dissemination, promotion, and exchange of old plant species to those who may want to tap them for food and medicine.
Authored by MMSU researchers Menisa Antonio, Rodel Utrera, Epifania Agustin, Dioniso Jamias, Araceli Badar and Miriam Pascua, the catalog contains information on indigenous and unexplored plants in the province that are found in the wild.
“We have come up with this catalog because we believe that people cannot conserve, value, and protect indigenous plants which they don’t know and are now becoming extinct,” the researchers said, adding that this new catalog provides a very useful reference material for the project implementers, extension workers, researchers, students, household consumers, and those in the academe.
The publication of the book was the result of the authors’ implementation of the research project, Survey and Characterization of Indigenous Food Plants in Ilocos Norte, which they pursued from 2008 to 2010 about the botanical characterization of IFPs.
The project was the first research work in Region 1 adopted by the Regional Development Council of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) through its research-based policy recommendations.
NEDA is one of the 18 member-agencies of the Ilocos Agriculture, Aquatic and Resources Research and Development Consortium with headquarters in MMSU.
The researchers said the enhancement of the indigenous plant species in Ilocos Norte had been identified as one of the component activities in the implementation of the university’s one town, one technology project aiming to increase food production and sustain development in the rural areas.
Last month, MMSU President Shirley Agrupis enjoined local government units in the province to strengthen partnership with the university to promote inclusive growth through the OTOTech project.
The local officials responded by allocating budget from its Paspas Dur-as program for the conduct of researches in line with this project.
The catalog presents 46 different plant species, which were documented from the remote communities in seven composite towns of Ilocos Norte, such as Adams, Pagudpud, Bangui, Dumalneg, Vintar, Carasi, and Nueva Era.
Most of these plants are grown in the wild and are traditionally used for food, health and nutrition, and as sources of income of people.
These plant species are classified into three groups: ferns, monocots, and dicots. A fern is any of numerous seedless vascular plants that reproduces its offspring by means of spores. They usually have feathery fronds divided into many leaflets. Most species of ferns are homosporous, or a kind of plant that produces only one kind of spore. Monocots have only one seed leaf inside the seed coat, while dicots have two and are usually rounded and fat, because they contain the endosperm to feed the embryo plant.
“Each of these plants comes with detailed images, taxonomic classification, local/vernacular names, ethno botany, and local distribution so that those who would be reading the catalog may understand the contents better,” the researchers said.
Preservation of vanishing plants
The MMSU researchers said that some plants, which are hardly seen nowadays, have superior agronomic characteristics such as good eating quality and resistance to pests and diseases. Some of these are now being planted in the vicinity of MMSU’s Crops Research Laboratory building to preserve their genes.
The researchers said that since these plants are fast disappearing there must be some preservations to be done to reverse the situation.
Considered vanishing among the vegetables are legumes known as balinsuek, red cowpea, cayenne pepper, kundol, kapaskapas, sugudsugod, himbabao and wild sponge gourd, while among the fruits trees are dalayap (Citrus aurantifolia), caburao (Citrus macroptera), darukis (Citrus sp.), custard apple or anonang (Anona reticulata), mansanitas (Zyzyphus mauritiana), antipolo (Artocarpus blanco), balayang (Musa errans), pomegrante (Punica granatum), bugnay (Antidesma bunius), carissa (Carissa carandas), zapote Negro (Diospyrus ebenaster), and pannalayapen or aping. The tops of pannalayapen, a woody forest plant, are consumed as green vegetable.
The researchers said that most of the vanishing fruits and forest trees had medicinal uses, too. The dalayap and caburao, for instance, are commonly used for treating cough and headache, while the fresh leaves of anonang are applied on the stomach of children who are suffering from indigestion.
Likewise, a decoction of its green fruits, leaves and barks is used for treating kidney trouble, dysentery and diarrhea.
Other plant species that are still in the endangered list are samak (Macaranga tanarius), anis (Foeniculum vulgare), ballang, tigue, maguey, lipai (Entada phaseoloides), arrow root (Maranta arundinacea), and tayum (Indigofera tinctoria).
The bark and leaves of samak are used in the fermentation of sugarcane juice to become basi and vinegar, while the leaves of ballang, a sedge, are used for making hats and mats.
The MMSU researchers said that the catalog was part of their effort to inform the public about the potentials of these plants saying that the activity was considered “a race against time” and that the only thing they could do was to collect them from the wild and multiply them. “This is the only way to keep them visible in the culture of Ilocanos,” they said. (Reynaldo Andres/PNA)
