In Focus: Hoya diversifolia on Trees

Hoya diversifolia being endemic to the Philippines, love the climate of the country. That is a given and just like any other plant when given the conditions it needs will flourish and give the collector endless joys and satisfaction. I have read many times in Facebook posts some collectors and hobbyists'  experiences about Hoya diversifolia. My curiosity was triggered when someone said that her plant has been with her for 25 years, but has not rewarded her with flowers. I was not only curious, i was intrigued. And i almost pity the collector for tending the plant for that long without any results, and daily she was just waiting. Being impatient, i guess that will not happen with me! I've said many times that i am patient only inside the doctor's clinic, where probably the word patient originated. I never mind that virtue, not one of my stronger virtues anyway.

Another fact about my Hoya diversifolia that makes it more interesting at least for me, is that it was my first hoya given by no other than the former hoya authority in the country, Dr. Monina Siar. She was a friend in the university, became a hoya collector and responsible for naming most of the hoyas endemic here. She even had a hoya named after her, Hoya siariae, but she died of cancer a few years ago in her 40s. So you will understand my predicament with this hoya species, and my need for it to flower earlier than what others experienced.

I grow the small plant given to me in a pot, let it hanging as most hobbyists do. I took a cutting and planted in the 2nd pot. After one year I was already jittery, as it is growing well with very long internodes, but no trace of peduncles at all. I told you i am impatient. I let the 2nd plant climb the lanzones tree in front of the house, as it is not giving us good fruits anyway, because of bark borers. It looked so happy climbing vigorously untill some stems reached the top and sunny side of the tree. I realized it wanted direct sunlight from sunrise to sunset. So i just let it be, doing what it wants. I never give it any fertilizers nor watering during the dry months. Leaves just yellowed and a bit shrunken but recover fast when the rainy months came. After two years on the tree it gave a lot of flowers, this year is its 4th year on the tree. The pictures will tell you a lot of information, no need for me to talk anymore.

This tree is taller than the roof of the 2nd floor. The bottom part of the picture is at level of the 1st floor roof. Beside it is the hoya house where all my hoyas are kept as hanging plants. 

Thank you so much for your patronage of my In Focus on hoyas. 

Our World Tuesday

Our Little Forest

With my diligence to take photos of the small entities living in my garden and in the wild where i go for butterfly chasing, it is a bit easier to post for Nature Notes. I have been a bit lazy posting lately since December of last year, hopefully i can again revive my enthusiasm as i settle on my new conditions and status. I have just retired from the obliged daily 8-5 office work! I feel truly relieved with that because i think of myself as an always responsible employee, meaning no matter what, no matter how tired i must go to the office at the designated hours. Only occasional sickness limits me from those obligations and requirements. Now i am not controlled much by time anymore.

However, maybe because of our body's memory and our mind's habit conditioning , i still wake up early and sleep late. I also still do not sleep during the day, and i still feel that my time is not enough. My gardening takes the first priority, and still i have many gardening tasks still undone. Once-in-a while i can go out for butterflies, but the extreme heat even in the early morning  hinders my wish to go out and look for them. Aside from my hoya and hippeastrum collections, i entered into the world of figs. And this proves to be very demanding.

So for now i will post here some of the extra pictures. But i am posting the forest this time.

I started early with this view of the sea in between the coconut trees. We are 4 km from here.

 This area is at least 15 minutes walk from our house or 1 km away. This area has deep ravines but many patches are planted with coconuts. I purposely come here only to see a special plant that blooms only during the dry season, in time for the heat.

I know the position of the tree so i know which part of the area to enter. Those flowers on top are my guide. That is what i am looking for. 

I veered away from the single path to the area, but i encountered a clearing which is steep and slippery due to the dried plants. These are cleared to give space for those legume trees  to grow, and they in turn are fed to cattle. The angle of this land can be at 50 degrees, so i had to really take care not to slip.

 One of the trees at the cleared area is this one, almost cleared of all the branches except for the top branches not to kill it totally. This practice is bad for the area, but it seems this  is not included in areas with rules for the environment. Too bad. There are said to be a batch of monkeys living in this forest, and owners of coconuts say they cannot get mature nuts during the dry season as the monkeys and crows eat the coconuts while still young.

 As i approach the tree, the beauty of the flowers become more visible. It is called the Palawan Cherry, cause lots of them are growing in Palawan. Some say it is not an endemic species, but it was brought in during the Spanish period so already here for centuries. We think it is a native species.

 Years ago i found it flowering more profusely than this year, as shown by those few flowers.

 Eventually i reached the tree, with this gnarled trunk. The broken branch can be because of the typhoons. It is a leguminous tree so a nitrogen fixer. I hope to find the pods for seeds, but i guess i am a bit early for that.

 I saw some still good pods on the ground, remnants from last years fruits. I got some seeds, but not sure if they are still viable.

Some pods have this larva on the locule where the seeds are located. They eat the seeds and eventually pupated in the locule. I just do not know what they look like as adult moths.

 This is a different tree nearby, with white bark and a lot of dried pods. So this is also a leguminous tree.

 I also noticed a lot of seedlings that turn leaves darker, or reddish purple. It is their way way of coping with the very hot direct sun. Purple young leaves have pigments that protect the leaves from intense ultraviolet rays. Eventually these leaves turn green as they mature.

 These seedlings are not like this during the other kinder months of the year. They are fully green. I always see them before because they are hosts to some butterfly larvae. I can say they are very good indicators of the intensity of the sun during our dry season.

 It is Clausena sp. a member of the citrus family, whose leaves are aromatic when crushed. 

 Leaves not fully exposed to the sun are still greener. It is still early that morning, yet the leaves are already curling as a sign of deficiency in water uptake. I hope they can still wait for at least 2 more months, till the start of the rainy season. 

It is also nice to visit some areas to observe conditions and responses of the plants to environmental conditions. Even if we only have two seasons, the responses of plants are still very distinct and visible. 

Nature Notes
Our World Tuesday

Wild Finds Again

If there are longer weekends just like the last 4 day-weekend i am very glad as i can roam the wild areas longer than usual. Last time the All Souls'Day followed by All Saints' Day is adjacent to the normal weekend, so i have at least 2 mornings for my wildlife escapades.

The wildlife i am referring to here is not the usual wildlife most of you refer to. Mine are  just areas untended for cultivation, fallowed or abandoned areas, with mixed tropical weeds and grasses, sometimes a few bushes and trees and sometimes these are even under coconut trees.

 Here are a few of the unusual takes that interest my lens. For me these are already wildlife.

 A group of 1st instar butterfly larvae of most probably Catopsilla pomona. There are 2 leaflets fully occupied like this. The leaf is golden shower, Cassia fistula.

A day after most of the larvae are gone, some went to other leaflets, and the rest maybe eaten by birds.

 These are the leaves on the 3rd day, the undersides leaf skin are fully devoured by the caterpillars, producing a lacey, artsy leaves. 

 Another leaflet left by the larvae, they transfered to a different leaflet, but their numbers are lesser.

 This wooly insect might be the nymp of a planthopper, but i did not see its main body.

 Another interesting wooly mealy bug, almost a centimeter in diameter. I am not sure if it really is a meally bug, as they are normally smaller than this. 

 This looks like a landscape of lichens, algae and mosses. A coconut trunk base is fully invaded by this growths. I looked for lichen moths, but i did not see any.

I often see this red fruits in our abandoned areas, or areas under coconuts. They fruit during this season. I  haven't seen birds eating them. The plant are short at around a foot tall. There are only a few leaves coming out of the ground with one or 2 bunches of fruits in a clump of green leaves. I searched, it is Tacca palmata (Dioscoreaceae).

Nature Notes 2
Our World Tuesday

Poses from a Hawkmoth

 I am Pergesa acteus, a hawkmoth feeding on Alocasia, Caladium, Colocasia and Dieffenbachia. I am Filipino so those are my host plants here. I heared my cousins in other Asian countries eat some other plants. Now i am obliged by this entity to pose for her camera. She used a lot of tricks to make me assume different poses. But in reality she is depriving me some sleep as it is daytime and i am supposedly deep asleep by now. I hope with my cooperation, in a little while she will let me be!

In a few more days i will assume to be a pupa, a transition for me to be an adult moth to fly, eat, mate and produce more hawkmoths.

Nature Notes

Our World Tuesday

Nature Finds Again

I have the habit of composing my blog posts early morning Monday, fast and quick because i am just sneaking for sometime before i start my normal work. I first look at my latest pictures during that weekend and choose the nature or macro photos from there. I always have bias for either hoyas or butterflies, because they are the ones i have the addiction for. Today i am posting on Sunday night because i did not go home this weekend. The culprit is the very hot surroundings yesterday morning when i am about to go home to the province. The result is that i do not have fresh weekend photos, i did not see nor take any butterfly shots, and the hoyas are both untended and not photographed.

But never mind, i always have lots of photos from recent files. Hmmm i wish to find some shots for Nature Notes. When i am looking for butterflies my attention is always for them, but when only a few of them show up i have attention too for other entities including spiders. However, i seldom know their names.

 a common jumping spider, Salticidae species

A lichen spider guarding its egg sac, it is supposed to be outside with the lichens but probably gallivanting and was trapped inside the bathroom. So it just stayed there with its egg sac. It has been there for two weeks.  Pandercetes sp. (Sparassidae)

A spitting spider (Scytodea sp.) carrying an egg sac . I don't know if they get prey even while guarding their eggs. If only i have time to spare, i will watch them spitting on their prey.

 a colorful Opadometa species

This is a very common resident of my hoya flowers, a crab spider. Very seldom will a hoya umbel  be without it. They are hiding there to ambush bees and butterflies that visit the flowers.

 My first time to see this one, i think unique for a spider

 Nephila sp.

Neoscona theisi

The owner of this web is very small hiding at the back of the central  object, pretending they are big.

I still have lots of spider photos, but i can't seem to see most of them when there's the need. I am posting these to the Arachnophiles Group in FB to know their names. When ready i will put them here. Thanks much!

Nature Notes

Macro Monday 2
Our World Tuesday