Cabbage (Brassica oleracea) is used as a leafy green vegetables and considered as an important part of a well-balanced diet. Cabbage are related to turnips, cauliflowers and brussels sprouts. . It is popularly known as “Repolyo” in the Philippines. Cabbage is a herbaceous, biennial, dicotyledonous flowering plant distinguished by a short stem upon which is [...]
Jasminum sambac (syn. Nyctanthes sambac) is a species of jasmine native to southwestern and southern Asia, in the Philippines, India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. In the Philippines, the flower is known as “Sampaguita” and was adopted by the government as its national flower in 1937. Filipinos string the flowers into leis, corsages and crowns and [...]
Aloe Vera (Aloe barbadensis) or medicinal aloe is a member of the Lily family, popularly known as Sabila in the Philippines. Aloe Vera is a species of succulent plant that probably originated in Northern Africa, the Canary islands and Cape Verde. The species is frequently cited as being used in herbal medicine. The transparent [...]
Soy wax is produced form soybean oil but may contain other non-soy ingredients. Soybean oil is separated from the solid components by solvent extraction or by mechanical pressing. This raw oil will be further refined and bleached. About 60 kg of soybeans are required to produce 10 kg of soybean oil. The soy solids, which [...]
Soybean or Soya bean (Glycine max), one of the most important legumes describe as wonder crop of the 20th century and a native to East Asia. The plant is classed as an oilseed rather than a pulse. It is an annual plant that has been used in China for 5,000 years to primarily add nitrogen [...]
The white gourd, ash gourd, winter melon, or “fuzzy melon”, is a vine grown for its very large fruit, eaten as a vegetable when mature. It is popularly known as “Kundol” in the Philippines. It is the only member of the genus Benincasa. The fruit is fuzzy when young. The immature melon has thick white [...]
Jute Mallow (Corchurus olitorious L.), natural jute or Jew’s mallow, popularly known as “Saluyot” in the Philippines, ever-present on the dining tables of the Ilocanos and the Tagalogs in Northern Luzon and other Luzon provinces. Jute mallow or Saluyot is famous for its sturdy natural fiber but there are parts of the plant that are [...]
Ipomoea aquatica is a semi-aquatic tropical plant grown as a leaf vegetable. It is known in English as Water Spinach, Water Morning Glory, Water Convolvulus, or by the more ambiguous names “Chinese spinach” and “swamp cabbage”. It is found throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world; it is not known exactly where [...]
The calabash or bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria), popularly known as “Upo” in the Philippines, is a vine grown for its fruit, which can either be harvested young and used as a vegetable or harvested mature, dried, and used as a bottle, utensil, or pipe. For this reason, one of the calabash subspecies is known as [...]
Arrowroot, or obedience plant (Maranta arundinacea), popularly known as “Uraro” and is widely cultivated in the Philippines for its starchy rhizomes. It is a low perennial herbaceous plant with thick, fleshy and creeping roots and long white fibers and is a good source of flour. Arrowroot flour has a very high commercial value in the [...]