"Build your home library and nurture knowledge to grow into wisdom." - avr

"Build your home library and nurture knowledge to grow into wisdom." - avr

Living with Nature Center

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Dr Abe V Rotor 

"Reading should not be presented to children as a chore, a duty. 

It should be offered as a gift." – Kate DiCamillo

"I think books are like people, in the sense that they’ll turn up 

in your life when you most need them." – Emma Thompson

"A room without books is like a body without a soul.”

 ― Marcus Tullius Cicero

"Books are a uniquely portable magic." – Stephen King

"Books are mirrors: You only see in them what you already 

have inside you." – Carlos Ruiz Zafón

BIOLOGY in the Epic Biag ni Lam-ang

BIOLOGY in the Epic Biag ni Lam-ang  

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Statue of Lam-ang at the La Union Botanical Garden, Barangay Cadaclan, San Fernando LU. The garden is a project of the local government headed by then San Fernando mayor Mary Jane Ortega, and managed by Dr Romualdo M del Rosario, from the garden's conceptualization to its elevation into a world class botanical garden.  

The epic Biag ni Lam-ang is rich in biology, the study of living things, more so on the uses of plants and animals in the world of the legendary hero.  How do we compare the epic's biology with ours today?  Let's look into each stanza and examine the organisms mentioned in their local and scientific names, including some basic data about them.

(4)

Nadumaduma a bungbungan

ti inna dita masarsaramsam:

salamagi a marabanban,

pias ken daligan.


A 900-year old tamarind tree; pods ready to harvest.

She ate a variety of fruits

like green tamarind,

pias  and daligan

[Tamarind or sampalok (Tamarindus indica), pias is Kamias (right photo) (Averrhoa balimbi), daligan is starapple (Averrhoa carambola)]

(5) 

Niog pay a lolocoten,

bayabas a pariggalsem,

sua ken lolokisen

ket dagitoy met ti inna sidaen:

Young coconut fruits, guavas

about to ripen, pomelo 
and other oranges which she ate.

l 

Fruits of bayabas or guava: in different stages of maturity..  Pariggaisem (about to ripem) is manibalang in Pilipino. 

[Young coconut or buko (Cocos nucifera), bayabas or guava (Psidium guajava). lolokisen or orange (Citrus nobilis)]

 
Newly harvested buko or young coconut is popular in any part of the country and in the tropical region, for its refreshing water and nutritious soft flesh.
 
(6) 

Panapana ken maratangtang,

ar-arosip ken aragan,

tirem a tinoctocan,

pasayan a kinalapan;

Panapana and maritangtang 

ar-arosip and aragan, tirem 

and shrimps.

Spiked and spineless sea urchin

[Panapana or spiked sea urchin, maritangtang (spinless sea urchin);  ar-arosip is Caulerpha or lato (Tag) grape-like green seaweed; aragan is a brown seaweed dominant in tropical regions]

  (7) edible marine shellfish pictures

 Pingpinggan ken im-immoco,

loslosi ken pocpoclo,

leddangan pay ken soso

ta isu dagitoy ti inna cagusto.

Pingpinggan and im-immoco,

loslosi and pocpoclo , 

leddangan and soso - these

she liked much to eat.

These are some edible species of shellfish which come in different dialects. Tinoktokan is likely oyster because you have to pound it open usually with stone.

 [Pingpingan, im-immoco and loslosi are edible bivalve seashells; soso is a pointed seashell.  Shellfish are usually gathered at low tide and in shallow waters in the coral reefs.  Pocpoclo is a green seaweed, Codium edule]. (photo)

  

(11)

"Inca cuma imatangan ti 

immulata a cawayan

idiay bantay capareian

ket inca cuma pucanan. 

"Go and see the bamboos 

we planted on Mount Caparian 

and cut down some.

[Bamboo is most likely of the species kawayan kiling (Bambusa spinosus) propagated by means of cuttings.  NOTE: Bamboo planting is thought to be a recent technology and horticultural practice.]

(19)

Ket kinona ni babain Namongan, 

"Ay, asawac a Don Juan,

dayta man tongo ti agdalagan 

a sagat ken gasatan.

And Namogan said, "My

husband Don Juan, I need

firewood such as molave and 

gasatan for my lying-in,

[Molave  (Vitex parviflora)  is a hardwood used as house posts; gasatan is another species of hardwood]

(20) 

"Dangla ken bayabas nga inukisan,

ket inca met cuma gumatang

itay dongdong ken dalican

ta isu ti pagdalangan.

"And also dangla and guava 

stripped of its bark.  Also 

you go and buy a jar and a 

stove on which to warm myself.

 [Dangla is lagundi (Vitex lagundi) a medicinal plant, guava here is used as medicinal plant.] (photo)

Acknowledgement" Internet photos

Emptiness at Sundown - a Challenge

   Emptiness at Sundown - a Challenge

"Wonder how Rodin created from bare rock The Great Thinker." avr

Dr Abe V Rotor

Sunset, Lemery Batangas, 2018

How can I be romantic when the world is sad and lonely, 

the sea in its ebb, the air still, save a passing breeze?
How can I love the classics, the timelessness of their beauty,  
the deafening silence, neither music nor of peace? 

How can I appreciate humanities, man's creativity,
peep into the biblical Garden of his birth?
How can I amend my evil ways, rise from human frailty
with the dying sun, soon to abandon the earth?

I am lesser than those who instead found opportunity
to explore the deep source where love and hope never cease. 
Monet taming a fiery sunset into a lovely beauty,
and on wasteland Wangari planted a million trees.  

I wonder how Rodin created from bare rock The Great Thinker;
Fleming by serendipity found from a moldy culture -
the life-saving Penicillin, a most potent drug ever,
while Thoreau alone wrote a treaty of man and nature.  

Crowning glory, masterpieces were not at all born in bed,
so with man faced with the impossible to solve,
when a tree stands alone leafless, the sea in ebb;   
and I, I wait for darkness envelop my world. ~  

Vegetable Fern (Pako') - Athyrium esculentum

For a change, try fern vegetable. It's good for the family;  It is rich in minerals and high in food value.
Dr Abe V Rotor
 Living with Nature - School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Pako' abounds in the wild - fields, forests and on river banks. It is often found growing on the backyard and idle lots.  Because many people have learned to eat pako', it is now widely sold in public markets just like any vegetable. 

Gather the young leaves or fronds which are eaten either raw or cooked.  They may be used as salad with various dressings, as leafy vegetable, or as ingredient of stews.

At home we prefer Ilocos Vinegar for dressing, with chopped onions, and a dash of salt.  Try fresh tomato instead of vinegar. 

When cooking bulanglang or diningding, include pako' singly ir in combination with other vegetables like spinach and eggplant.  Don't forget sweet potato (kamote) in  cubes as thickening (buridibud).     

Pako’ salad with tomato and onion dressing; pako ready for cooking stew.

Mineral Content and Food Value of fresh Athyrium esculentum (percent)

 Marañon J (Philippine Journal of Science), and Hermano AJ (Bureau of Science Popular Bulletin), Useful Plants of the Philiipines Volume 1, William H Brown

Moisture 89-90;

Ash 1.14 - 1.32

Phosphorus 0.26

Calcium 0.03

Iron 0.006

Protein 3.11

Fats 0.28

Cabohydrates 3.86

Crude Fiber 1.23

How do you recognize the plant in the field? Here is a guide.  Refer to the illustration to familiarize yourself.  Pako' is in ther list of wild food plants, and "hunger" or emergency food plant in times of scarcity. It is a survivor's alternative food.  

Athyrium esculentum has twce- or thrice-pinnate frond which are 50 to 80 cm long and about half as wide.  The pinnules are pointed, coarsely serrate, and about 2 to 5 cm long. The plant is abundantly distributed in the Philippines growing on gravelly bars and banks of streams.  It is also found growing widely from India to Polynesia. 

Pako' (Athyrium esculentum) growing habit


Another fern is edible. This is Ceratopteris thalictroides, a stout fern with leaves that are divideed into numerous narrow sgments..  It is aquatic and it actually grows on mud. It is also found all over the Philippines and in all tropical countries.  

  Ceratopteris thalictroides, an aquatic fern.  

Other edible fern species mainly in temperate regions: (Wikipedia)

The fiddleheads (unopened fronds) of certain ferns are eaten as a cooked leaf vegetable. The most popular of these are:

• Western sword fern, Polystichum munitum, "king of northwest ferns."
• Bracken, Pteridium aquilinum, found worldwide (Health Warning)
• Ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris, found in northern regions worldwide, and the central/eastern part of North America (Health Warning)
• Lady fern, Athyrium filix-femina, throughout most of the temperate northern hemisphere.
• Cinnamon fern or buckhorn fern, Osmunda cinnamomea, found in the eastern parts of North America, although not so palatable as ostrich fern.
• Royal fern, Osmunda regalis, found worldwide
• Midin, or Stenochlaena palustris, found in Sarawak, where it is prized as a local delicacy
• Zenmai or flowering fern, Osmunda japonica, found in East Asia

Invisible Wall

Invisible Wall

Dr Abe V Rotor

                     

Aquarium pet and a Butterfly, At Home, Lagro QC 

Fish to butterfly danger in the open

     harmless between a wall; 

Humans behave like friend to friend 

     between an invisible wall.