Native tree of the month (PART 1) Bogo (Garuga floribunda Decne)

Physical Characteristics

The bogo tree is a small to medium-sized or, occasionally, fairly large tree up to 30 meters tall.

The bole is usually straight, cylindrical, and branchless, and up to 120 centimeters in diameter. Its buttresses are up to three meters high.

The bark surface has adhering scales that are gray or gray-white in color; its inner bark is rubbery and pink.

Leaves are arranged spirally, crowded at the apex of twigs, and with leaflets.

Flowers are in an axillary panicle, bisexual, with a copular receptacle. The sepals are free. The petals have inflexed tips. The stamens are inserted on the margin of the receptacle. The ovary is superior, five locular with two ovules in each cell.

The fruit is a fleshy, blue drupe with one to five one-seeded pyrenes.

Locations

Bogo tree occurs in seasonal climates in primary and secondary, often periodically in dry or very dry monsoon forests and thickets as well as in lower montane rainforests. It is also found in coastal and teak forests.

Bogo tree is not fire-resistant and can tolerate a periodically high groundwater table. It is found on limestone hills, and grows on stony, sandy or clayey soils.

It can also be found in northern Luzon to Palawan and Mindanao in thickets and secondary forests at low and medium altitudes. It is nowhere abundant.

Method of Propagation

Bogo tree can be propagated by seeds. 

Tree Management

Flowers appear before the new leaves. In general, flowering is at the end of the dry season or the beginning of the rainy season. 

Traditional Use

The bark is used for native medicine. A decoction of the bark has been given after childbirth. Bark together with sambulawan is used to treat nuka (scabies or itchiness), hubag (boils, abscess, or inflammation) and ap-ap (a skin disease that causes depigmentation producing irregular whitish spots).

Contemporary Use

The wood of the bogo tree is used for general construction, bridge building, posts, light duty flooring, furniture and cabinet work, interior trim, moldings, shelving, skirting, sporting goods, agricultural implements, boxes and crates, carvings, toys and novelties, and turnery.

It is also used for the production of veneer and plywood. Timber is rather good, moderately hard, and heavy; in the ground, it apparently decays slowly. The leaves are used for fodder. A decoction of the leaves has been used to dye mats made from Corypha leaves black. The bogo tree is occasionally planted as a shade tree. The fruit is edible.

How to plant your bogo seedling

Clear the area where you want to plant your seedling of unwanted weeds and debris. Make sure that a one-meter radius is kept free from other vegetation. Dig a plant hole with dimensions of at least 20 cm x 20 cm x 20 cm. Plant the seedling at proper depth. Root collar should be at level with or a little below the ground surface with the seedling oriented upward. Fill the hole with top or garden soil and press soil firmly around the base of the seedling. In plantation-making, seedlings should maintain a two-meter distance between seedlings if planted in a row of a three-meter distance from one strip to the next strip.

How to take care of your bogo seedling

Remove grass and other unwanted vegetation and cultivate the soil around the base of the seedling (50 cm radius) once in every quarter for two to three years. Place mulch around the base of the seedling (maintaining the 50 cm radius and using cut grass, leaves, and other suitable materials as mulch base). Prune the branches at most 50 percent of the crown depth, preferably during dry season, and ensure that when pruning, you do not injure the bark. Remove infected or infested vegetation nearby to stop plant diseases from spreading and contaminating your seedling. Monitor regularly the growth of the seedling for presence of pests and diseases.

Data about native tree species are featured by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. For comments and suggestions, email [email protected].