The Trees Nobody Likes

I borrow the title from an NG's article from 1977. Think I've written about mangroves before. But I'd like to write about it again, having clicked this picture from CI's website: beautiful. and what are those things clinging on the roots? just fascinating!

I admire mangroves, their oddities, and strange appearance. an encounter with a very slender snake at mangrove forest on Pulau Untung Jawa was surely memorable. so, i admire these trees--only from a distance :)

Stamp Your Trees

Stamp your trees or make sure they got certified.

When buddy Ocha brought up this topic, i was in complete darkness: To reduce illegal logging and deforestation (one of Indonesia's major problems in environment), European countries have banned uncertified woods and papers from entering Europe. Tree growers and loggers and paper mills will have to need to register their products in the name of sustainability.

the concept is imho similar to Fair Trade Certification: ensuring reclamation, good compensation, no underage workers etc.

Good move given that Indonesia is a leading wood producing countries and--sadly--is also a country who is losing hundreds of kilometer square of jungle per day due to illegal logging.

i hope the implementation is also nationwide. if the illegal loggers can't sell any to Europe, perhaps they will turn to other continents or worst: local market...

("it's not time to worry yet" hey, i heard someone says that. Atticus!)

think i should call a friend. She bought a piece of land and covered the ground with young sengons*:
"Ms. Wacana, get your seedlings registered now! Then sell them to Europe and get rich!" :)



* Paraserianthes falcataria

Red Hue

tree, seaside, Tulamben

Morus Pocus (the Joy Mulberry Brings)

love mulberries. nothing beats the joy of sticking purple tongue at friends and laugh together. this morus tree I saw at warung Stroberi (?) in highlands off Bandung brought me back to Lawang. There near Polaman lived a family. The father worked the land best. the small boy i was had to walk slowly 10 m from the gates to the door for he eyed the mulberries. he would act nice so they would let him and friends climb the bush. his daughters was friends of ours. it was routine until i was about 10. everytime i passed their house i remembered them.

I'd climb the wall near Frateran back in SMPK to pick the bright deep red and deep purple berries. i knew exactly what Eve felt when she saw the forbidden fruit tree!

happy i am everytime i pick the berries!

Fig-uratively speaking

Apis: Vit, have u been to Untung Jawa
Vit: Yes, but nothing to be seen
Apis: But the water front looks nice
Vit: Ask Sem
Sem: Haha, like i'm the expert of it
Apis: I read it has a colony of monkey
Sem: not sure. what's the date of the article?
Apis: 1995 or 1994

Speaking of monkeys, when i saw this tree of fig family, it reminded me of Borneo orangutans at rehabilitation and African apes I watched on Animal Planet (it's the only thing i miss from that mad karaokeing woman's house). This fig tree produces fruits seemingly for nobody. Perhaps bats eat one or two, I just wish that the govt brought some apes to populate the small island and harvest the entire tree.

About the monkeys at Untung JAwa Island, perhaps they have found refuge on the neighboring island, Rambut, where it reportedly house some big wild cats and monkeys, along with its mascots, sea birds.

the tree of this kind lives solely on Pulau Karya. It reaches abt 6 m high and 4 m wide.

The Tree I Respect

two month old seedlings awaiting to be transfered to saline environment

Mangroves (bakau) were trees I hated. They're ugly and leggy with spidery roots and dense foliage.

My encounters with them had been unpleasant, especially at Pulau Untung Jawa, where I "met" snakes, frogs and other slimy creatures, not to mention mosquitoes. If I were equipped with insect repellent or antisnake suit (if there were any), i would have had big time experience enjoying the environment because I also saw many interesting carps (mujahir, i'll talk about later), candy colored crabs, fiddle crabs, monitors, big spiders, cats (abandoned ones), hermit crabs. if only the snake did not cross my path, i would have continued my exploration at mangrove forest on the left wing of the island.

young mangroves prefer calm waters like that of Pulau Pramuka

Despite the facts, my fascination with them continues. I admire the mangroves at swamps near Soekarno Hatta Airport. They're tall, wide, and almost solitary (most mangroves live in colonies). I read that people chopped them down to make fish ponds or tambak. Sad, eh. Those tambaks are mostly illegal.

Mangroves at Pulau Rambut were also interesting because seabirds perch and nest there. but to my surprise, the conservation island only host few mangroves and the coastal area has been heavily transgressed by the seawater. the govt apparently is trying to recover it by planting mangrove seedlings on cement pots.

I guess, many people still don't know the benefit and what we owe this salt tolerant trees. They're home for hundreds kinds of birds and reptiles (bird watching around mangrove shrubs is interesting), and nesting ground of various fish and crustaceans. they play big role in stabilizing shorelines and most importantly, they break wave and storm. Since it took years for them to mature, chopping them down is a big crime.

once 2 ha Pulau Semak Daun is now shrinking, due to heavy abrasion now the govt is trying
to rescue the island by planting mangrove seedlings around the uninhabited island

I hope the govt make serious and real action to protect this valuable trees and coastal areas in this archipelago.

By the way, real mangroves come from genus Rhizophora and Avicennia. Several coastal plants in Indonesia are also called by the name especially with genus Sonneratia, except that they are of myrtle family.

Sem
(photos: Sem)

Palm-istry

Oom Jumadi is one of the craziest artists i've ever known. He painted hundreds of biblical themes and the holy family, yet his true passion is business. His marketing efforts ranged from food consignment to 'fair trading' plants.

One time he fell in love with palms in the days of palm craze (think of anthurium craze right at the moment). he would collect every kind and pot them. He even flew to Pontianak in search of bottle palms and he prided himself in discovering red palms, like that pictured above.

Then i soon discovered that i too loved palms--as long as they produce something edible :)

Sem