Category: Plants

trees, bushes, shrubs, wildflowers, weeds, crops, flowers, and also mushrooms

Curry Leaf Tree

Murraya koenigii

Family: Rutaceae

Common Name: Karipata

Origin: native to India and Sri Lanka

Reference: Stuart Exchange

Curry Leaf Tree

This is a small tree. The leaves are used for cooking in India and Sri Lanka. This is different from the Curry Plant. The curry plant has leaves that smell like curry. The leaves and flowers of this tree smell fragrant and somewhat spicy.

This tree is growing outside the kitchen window. We bought it in 2014 from the Mahogany Market in Tagaytay. I thought it was a Curry Plant and that it was going to be a small bush. Surprise! It’s a small tree.

curry leaf tree

Tropical Kudzu

Pueraria phaseloides

 

Family: Fabaceae

Common name: Tropical Kudzu

Origin: native toSouthern China (Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Hainan Island, Hong Kong), Taiwan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands.

Reference: Tropical Forages

Can I ID a plant from a sketch? I think so!

Matang Hipon

Breynia rhamnoides

Family: Euphorbiaceae/Phyllanthaceae
Common names: Indian snowberry
Distribution: found throughout the Philippines in low and medium altitudes, also occurs in India and Sri Lanka to China and Malaya
Reference: Stuartxchange

Matang Hipon

This started growing by itself beside the horse paddock. The bark and leaves have medicinal uses. The berries are eaten by birds.

This was initially misidentified as an edible plant Katuk Sauropus androgynus. I had my doubts about the ID after I ate a few leaves to confirm the ID. Did not taste edible!
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