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Rafflesia philippensis

is a parasitic plant species of the genus Rafflesia that was named by Blanco in his Flora de Filipinas in 1845. R. philippensis is known only from a mountain located between the provinces of Laguna and Quezon, Luzon where it was first discovered. Its plant host is Tetrastigma pisicarpum. This species went unnoticed since its first description by Blanco but was rediscovered in 2003 by members of the Tanggol Kalikasan, a local environment conservation group in Quezon province who first saw and photographed the open flower of this species. It was brought to the attention of Manuel S. Enverga University (MSEUF), who formed a team composed of students and faculty to document the newly discovered Rafflesia species.

The taxonomy and nomenclature of this species is complex. The most recent work by Dr. Julie Barcelona and colleagues has documented that the taxon named by Blanco in the mid-19th century is indeed the same as the taxon named by her own research group and that of Dr. Domingo Madulid.Thus, the two later names, R. banahawensis and R. banahaw are synonyms of R. philippensis.

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Bogambilya - Scientific Name: Bougainvillea spectabilis

The first species recorded in the Philippines was Bougainvillea spectabilis. The other species, B. glabra and B. peruviana were introduced much later. The cultivated hybrids have produced a considerable variety in size, color, form and numbers of showy bracts. The genus is derives its name from Antoiine de Bougainville, first Frenchman to cross the Pacific.

Bogambilya is a woody climber that can grow to a height of more than 10 meters, with large thorny stems and long drooping branches. The leaves are dark green, petioled, alternate, ovate, with entire margins, 6 to 10 centimeters long, broadest near the base. Thorns are the axils assist the plant in climbing. Flowers are in groups of threes, forming clusters at the terminal portion of the branches, each group subtended by three, broad, purplish, oblong-ovate and acuminate bracts, about 3 to 5 centimeters long. Flowers are small, each inserted on a bract, tubular, inflated midway through its length, of varying colors.

Numerous cultivars are cultivated in the Philippines, with single or multiple bracts, in varied colors of red, purple, pink, yellow or white.

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Philippine Santan - Scientific Name:

Ixora philippinensis and

Ixora palawanensis

Ixora philippinensis or kamingiis found in the remaining wooded areas of central and southern Luzon. It is a relatively bushy plant with the familiar santan flower umbels. The flower color is white which may not exactly be the most striking. But a flowering specimen is still very much worth a gardener's effort. The more attractive species is the Palawan santan, or Ixora palawanensis. It is endemic to a few islands of Palawan. The plant has remarkably delicate leaves and an unusual santan flower color, peach.

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Sampaguita – Scientific Name: Jasminum sambac

Jasminum sambac  commonly known as “Sampaguita” or “Arabian jasmine,” is a shrub cultivated throughout the Philippines. It is the country's national flower.

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Gumamela – Scientific name: Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Linn

English: China rose, Hibiscus Tagalog: Gumamela

Gumamela is cultivated as an ornamental flower throughout the Philippines. It is common on Mt. Banahaw. Gumamela flowers are used as an expectorant in bronchitis, for general coughs, and as a refrigerant drink in fevers.

Description:

An erect, much-branched, glabrous shrub, 1 to 4 m high.

Leaves: glossy green, ovate, acuminate, pointeed, coarsely-toothed, 7 to 12 cm long, alternate, stipulate.

Flowers: solitary, axillary, very large. Outermost series of bracteoles 6, lanceolate, green, and 8 mm long or less. Calyx green, 2 cm long, lobes ovate. Petals commonly red, obovate, entire, rounded tip, and imbricate. Stamens forming a long staminal tube enclosing the entire style of the pistil and protruding out of the corolla. Ovary 5-celled, styles 5, fused below.

Fruits: capsules, loculicidally 5-valved, but rarely

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“Taxonomy is described sometimes as a science and sometimes as an art, but really it’s a battleground.”

― Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything

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TAXONOMY

is the science of defining groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups.

Organisms are grouped together into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given a taxonomic rank; groups of a given rank can be aggregated to form a super group of lower rank, thus creating a taxonomic hierarchy