Manus Brinkman sent us this interesting picture and text, which he got from the Virtual Collection of Masterpieces, VCM:

Look at the servant to the right of Buddha, what are the fruits on his tray?

The red fruit is a pomegranate (Punica granatum), a symbol of supreme power. The yellow fingered fruit is a Buddha hand fruit (Citrus medica var. sarcodactylis), a symbol of a learned man. At Dokmai Garden we have selected this fruit as our mascot, since you can literally shake hands with the ambassador of the plant kingdom (see our avatar to the right of this blog). Below is the explanatory text from VCM:

“The ‘Blazing Light’ Buddha and his heavenly entourage (Chiseonggwang Samjon-do)

It is a separate but rare type of Buddhist painting with its figures originating in Daoist folk belief. The colours are vivid, and the overall effect is uniform and impressive. The relatively free style of the figures and the colours employed are characteristic of the 19th century. The theme of the painting represents a rare type in Korean Buddhist painting. In Buddhism the Daoist cult of the Seven Star-Deities changed into the cult of the Seven Star-Buddhas. Later the ‘Blazing Light’ Buddha as a main figure was represented separately and his entourage consisted of the Seven Star-Buddhas. Their special shrine was called the Shrine of the ‘Seven Star’ (Korean: Chilseong-gák) where the picture of the ‘Blazing Light’ Buddha Trinity was given the place of honour, with the pictures of the Star Buddhas (Chilseong-do) being placed on either side of it.

In the centre of this composition sits the ‘Blazing Light’ Buddha, on a lotus flower throne in a contemplative posture, with the golden Wheels of Law on his two palms. Before him on either side appear the Sunlight Bodhisattva (Ilgwang Bosal) and the Moonlight Bodhisattva (Wolgwang Bosal) in a similar posture. They wear the red disk of the Sun and the white disk of the Moon in their diadems. On both sides of the trinity in two rows there are celestial officials (depicted as the Seven Star-Kings) in high-ranking court attire. Above the celestial officials, on floating white balls of clouds sit the seven little Buddhas, in contemplative posture on indigo-blue lotus flower-thrones. They are none other than the Seven Star-Buddhas. Near the ‘Blazing Light’ Buddha a celestial servant is seen carrying a round tray with fruits. A distinctively shaped fruit among them is known as the Buddha’s hand.”

Owner: Hungarian State; property management by the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest; in the Collection of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts, Budapest.

The hot season is also the mango fruit season. What do you do if you have too many fruits? Traditionally Thai farmers would make mango rolls or ‘mango leather’.

Pick mango fruits from the tree. Put them on a table in the shade for a few days to allow them to ripen, i.e. to develop a full aroma and sweetness. This variety is ‘Nam Dokmai’, organically grown at Dokmai Garden in Chiang Mai.

Peel the ripe mangos, slice them, discard the large seeds and heat the pulp in a vessel for 2-3 hours to reduce the amount of water. Let it cool down. Squeeze the pulp with your hands until it turns into a jam, and then smear it out on a wax cloth, tray or old rice bag as in this picture. Put the cloth in the sun for 2-3 days to allow it to dry. A satellite dish is handy, also useful for drying chili, banana, squid and meat.

Nothing has been added to this product, this is plain dried fruit pulp. Such rolls, called ‘mamuang keng’ or ‘mamuang goan’ where also a way for farmers to make money. However, small-scale production at home is quite uncommon today. Mango rolls or ‘mango leather’ can be stored a long time, while the fresh fruit decays quickly. When food is available one has to preserve as much as possible. In communities without irrigation, such as in the arid Esan (Northeast of Thailand) there is not many other fresh greens available in April.

Sliced and ready to eat – sweet and tasty.

Precipitation report (corrected): Only one occasion of rain in April: 3 mm on April 25th. In March we received 13 mm of rain (8 mm on the 3rd and 5 mm on the 4th of March). In February we received 20 mm (21 Feb. 8 mm, 17 Feb. 7 mm, 2 Feb. 5 mm). In January we received 9 mm (3 mm on Jan. 31st and 6 mm on Jan. 29th). During the past 18 month period, we have been forced to irrigate at least once each month except in September 2012. The current drought March-April 2013 is normal. Yesterday’s maximum temperature was 37.4°C. The Climate Prediction Centre still forecasts a neutral (normal) year.

Text & Photo: Eric Danell

The Dokmai Garden monsoon woodland hosts many of the Orchid Ark’s terrestrial orchids. I have previously reported Geodorum recurvum flowers, and can add that a total of ten such individuals have been recorded, one flower still remains although the first was sighted two months ago. Another exquisite orchid of this fire-free monsoon woodland displays its flowers right now, Eulophia andamanensis (Orchidaceae):

The flowers’ colours coincide so much with the surrounding leaf litter one might wonder if this is a camouflage. I think it is not a camouflage, but colours are redundant in this case, where morphology and possibly scent (undetectable to humans) attracts its pollinator. Bees and beetles are known pollinators of African and South American Eulophia. Some Eulophia mimic other flowers to lure pollinators, but that can not be the case in this species.

This species is often mislabeled Eulophia graminea, another native orchid with large green pseudobulbs. That species has pink colours in the centre of its lip, and blooms much earlier. Although native to India and Southeast Asia, E. graminea has become naturalized in Florida. Judging from seed pods we have that species in our monsoon woodland too.

Lindley’s name ‘Eulophia‘ is derived from ‘eu’ and ‘lephos’ meaning ‘beautiful plume’, alluding to the lip. The name ‘andamanensis’ seems to restrict it to the Andaman Sea, but E. andamanensis grows widely in deciduous forests all over Southeast Asia. We hope it will thrive and reproduce within our monsoon woodland.

While writing this blog at 11.15 p.m on Thursday, massive lightning and thunder is seen to the west. Ketsanee just told me about a destructive hail storm in Samoeng, so rainy season seems near. Precipitation report: we got 8 mm of rain around midnight, the bulk of which on the May 3 side.

Text & Photo: Eric Danell

On Tuesday we had five visitors from Boston, Hawaii and Esan (northeast of Thailand) and while checking out a guanabana fruit and a tarantula hole, I raised my eyes to screen the sky for raptors. There was a large bird indeed, but it had a long neck, black and white wings: Asian Openbill (Anastomus oscitans)! This was the 100th bird species recorded at Dokmai Garden.

It was not even on my ‘candidate list’. Possibly this individual was gaining high altitude (11 a.m.) to make a move for the central plains or perhaps even go abroad for a visa run. An acquaintance north of town (Mae Rim) said he had 200 openbills in the rice fields next to his garden. That visit was a first time sight for him too. Rice fields are a more typical location for the Asian Openbill, as storks like wetlands, while Dokmai Garden is at the foothills of the mountains.

Here is the updated bird list of Dokmai Garden. We have had visitors who have used it to identify species around their hotel even before visiting Dokmai Garden. The list is arranged in groups such as ‘raptors’, ‘long-tailed’ etc. Instead of buying a book on 1000 bird species you get a list of the 100 most common birds in the Chiang Mai valley, so a short-term tourist can quickly home in on possible candidates, google the names and get an illustration.

Precipitation report: we got 7 mm of rain last night and this morning, transforming the landscape into a lush green. Termites have begun swarming so we keep lights out at night. One light was on outside the bathroom when I returned from the lab by midnight, and around the lamp were tockay geckos swollen of termite food, wings hanging out of their mouths. On the ground I saw the first ‘ung ang’ frog this season, also attracted by the smörgåsbord of termites. Normally they spend a six months long siesta underground until the rains begin.

With the appearance of amphibians snakes get more active too. I have a bronzeback in the orchid nursery. She looks offended if you spray her with water and she moves away like a chic lady splashed by the neighbour’s naughty kids during Songkran, but she likes the humidity there. She shares the premises with a very fat toad. This clumsy old troll lives inside a pot with a tiger orchid, and he likes to take a walk in the restaurant garden at night.

I have updated the blog on the slug snake thanks to exciting information from Sjon Hauser, my mentor in snake watching. As it turns out, there is another look-alike snake species in Chiang Mai, largely over-looked. Sjon kindly provided a picture of this slug snake so if you like to know more about your garden neighbours, take a look at this blog again!

At last, we also invite tourists and VIP card holders to join us for a mango leather making activity. It will begin on Wednesday, May 8th, at 10 a.m. Kindly send us an e-mail if you wish to attend (info at dokmaigarden.co.th).

Bufo melanosticta

Eric Danell & Ketsanee Seehamongkol

People who like Dokmai Garden and our philosophy will also like Faasai Resort and Spa in Chanthaburi, southeast Thailand. We believe it is important that good forces pull the same way and we are more than happy to recommend other eco-friendly resorts and attractions. At present we negotiate the possibility of this land becoming a second Orchid Ark, with a responsibility for the southern Thai orchid species. Below is a guest blog written by Bronwen Evans who runs this family-owned resort.

At first glance we have what appears to be a normal resort garden with palms, bougainvillea, clipped hedges, fountains and lawns. However as they stroll around the gardens, perceptive guests will notice the diversity of plants, trees and flowers bustling with bees, butterflies and birds, and they may even spot a member of staff gathering some delicacies from the trees for lunch or dinner.

Welcome to our edible forest garden!

Many people have heard of forest gardening through the work of English writer John Hart or Japanese no dig guru Masanobu Fukuoka, but my inspiration has been the Japanese philosopher Mokichi Okada, who wrote about gardening as a form of truth, beauty and virtue, similar to our motto of harmony, grace and natural beauty. Most importantly, he founded the school of nature farming in Japan early last century. His followers set up the Asia Pacific Natural Agricultural Network (APNAN) in Thailand in 1989 which teaches the use of beneficial microorganisms and working with nature as an effective way of growing healthy productive crops without the need for insecticides or artificial chemicals. APNAN, which is based in Saraburi in central Thailand, is a wonderfully practical organization which teaches its techniques to thousands of people every year and provides useful advice on everything from rice farming, to orchid growing, creating a self-sufficient farm and animal husbandry. I attended a course in Saraburi four years ago and use their techniques in our organic gardens.

My other inspiration is my husband Surin who grew up in a village in Ubon Ratchathani in northeast Thailand (Isaan). He describes an idyllic boyhood, tending buffalo, hunting and fishing and gathering wild herbs and fruits. According to Surin there was an amazing diversity of fauna and flora around his village, including fragrant beautiful flowers and delicious wild fruit. Since they had no electricity and a non-monetary economy, everything came from the land, including light from the resin of the ton ya nang tree (Dipterocarpus sp.), collected by Surin. Unfortunately the landscape of Isaan is very different today, with most of the native trees cut down and replaced by a monoculture of rice paddies. Even the rice grown today is far removed from the aromatic heritage varieties grown in the past.

Native orchids were once abundant in Thailand, now mostly gone in the forests. Hotels generally display man-made garden hybrids, while this is a true native orchid species, Aerides falcata.

Most of the trees from the northeast also grow well here in Chanthaburi and we are lucky enough to still have extensive pockets of bush around us which shower us with self-seeding trees such as the richly scented lam duan and “mahaat” (Artocarpus lakoocha), a tall forest tree which produces fragrant fruit like apricots.

When we came to Kung Wiman nine years ago we bought two pieces of land – three and a half acres where we built the resort and one and a half acres along the road where we planted around one thousand rare agar wood trees (Aquilaria sp.). We kept about 50 of the original small trees on the resort property and planted hundreds more. Although we don’t have the barking deer and tigers that Surin used to see 50 years ago, we do have many small creatures such as squirrels, bats, lizards, frogs, toads, native bees, butterflies and birds which give life and movement to the gardens. Five years ago we bought a further 15 acres nearby. There were a couple of ponds and swampland fed by fresh water springs and we restored the small lake which was once there, called ‘White Water Lake’. Around the lake we have planted trees including natives such as agar wood  and gankrau (Fagraea fragrans). Nearby we grow fruit and herbs and rice in the rainy season and we also graze three pet cows.

As well as commercial varieties of fruit we are growing heritage varieties of mango, durian and coconuts, wild fruits from Isaan such as ton waa chompu (Syzygium cumini) and local fruit varieties such as moon trees (Diospyrus decandra). In addition to staples such as lemongrass, galangal, kaffir limes and chillis, we harvest seasonal delicacies. This week we collected banana flowers and leaves, young tamarind and pigar leaves (Oroxylum indicum), hairy basil, holy basil, bitter cucumber, egg mangos, papaya, and a cherimoya.

We made tom yum with the tamarind leaves and a bitter cucumber salad seasoned with the tamarind leaves. Surin also made “hor mok gai” with the banana flowers, which is the quintessential forest cuisine. Hor muk literally means mixed wrap and is a mash of herbs and meat wrapped in banana leaves. Traditionally it was grilled over charcoal but today it is usually steamed.

Flying squirrel

 Any meat can be used – when Surin was a boy he had hor muk made with lizards, frogs, snake, rats or squirrels. Since today we have no desire or need to kill these lovely creatures we eat it instead with chicken or fish or bamboo shoots.

Surin’s hok mok chicken recipe:
Banana flower
Chicken
Hairy basil
Chili
Lemongrass
Fish sauce
Spring onions
Garlic

All ingredients are pounded together in a mortar and pestle, wrapped in a banana leaf, sealed with a toothpick and steamed.

We offer a few forest cuisine dishes at the resort such as pork with chamuang leaves, chicken with neem leaves (Azadirachta indica) and soup with Siamese cardamom (Amomum villosum). Curious guests may be able to try other exotic recipes – by asking what our staff are eating or tracking me down in the garden to find out what’s in season.

‘Mala’ or ‘mara’ salad, based on wild bitter gourd (Momordica charantia var. abbreviata).

Apart from being tasty, forest cuisine is also healthy. It is rich in vitamins and trace elements and almost everything we eat is also cited in our herb guide.

While we might not be able to recreate the idyllic world of Surin’s childhood, our gardens are a living reminder of what Thailand was once like and what it could be.

Text & Photo: Bronwen Evans. She is a New Zealander, who with her Thai husband Surin Laopha,  created the award-winning eco-resort Faasai Resort and Spa at Kung Wiman in Chanthaburi in the Southeast of Thailand. Interestingly, Bronwen is the great-granddaughter of the Kew mycologist Mordecai Cubitt Cooke.

Acknowledgements: We thank Duncan Smart who visited Dokmai Garden back in 2011, and who put us into contact with Bronwen Evans after his stay with her this May.

Editing and scientific names: Eric Danell, Dokmai Garden

Buds turn into flowers. These pictures of the Siamese sindora (Sindora siamensis, Fabaceae) was taken yesterday on May 5th, 2013:

Siamese sindora blossom. Photo: Eric Danell

The flowering buds split in four sections and expose three pairs of short male stamens and one pair of longer male stamens. There is one pistil. No showy petals. The fragrance resembles a mix of honey, Norway spruce (Picea abies) and hyacinth. You would only detect the fragrance if you put the nose close to the flowers. Ketsanee and Mika both said the fragrance was appealing, but neither could describe it. I did see some visiting carpenter bees but no masses. I went out again after dark but I only saw one moth. Ants crawled around but I think they come due to the sugary droplets of the sepals. Being on the outside does not help with cross-pollination between trees, but they provide protection against hungry pests. I licked the droplets but they are too tiny to give any sensation.

You can read more about Sindora siamensis here.

In addition to this treat, yesterday’s visitors and Orchid Ark benefactors Allen and Janet Todd from Oregon got nice pictures of the flower  of Strophanthus perakensis:

I updated the previous blog with Allen’s picture and added one of the young fruit.

Ketsanee Seehamongkol and Eric Danell, Dokmai Garden, Chiang Mai

Yesterday we spent a lovely day in the hills near Dokmai Garden, enjoying the results of the latest rains. Geodorum attenuatum ground orchids were in bloom along with yellow Globba sp. (Zingiberaceae) and two fantastic Curcuma spp (Zingiberaceae) and Gagnepainia thoreliana.

We collected the mature and very well tasting Thai dwarf date fruits (Phoenix loureiroi, Arecaceae):

The seeds look very much like ordinary date seeds but smaller. The flavour of the fruit pulp is identical to ordinary dates. Back home at Dokmai Garden we planted six seeds in situ in the garden, another 12 in pots and then we keep 12 for seed exchange.

Text & Photo: Eric Danell

(Precipitation report: on the 6th of May we received 13 mm of rain).

A new orchid of the Orchid Ark collection at Dokmai Garden is Eulophia spectabilis (Orchidaceae). It never bloomed while in its pot in the shaded but moist nursery, but released in the dry monsoon woodland in August 2012 it dived like a fish released from its bucket. A vigorous inflorescence without leaves, typical of the Eulophia genus, showed up recently. Identifying this species is not easy since it is highly variable depending on its geographical origin. It can be all red (var. purpurea), all white or white and red. The specimen below has greenish sepals with pink stripes. A characteristic feature of the species is the pink venation of the lip with a white, sometimes yellow spot in the centre, while many other Thai Eulophia have lips with a pink centre. The inflorescence is fleshy and the flowers quite large, up to 3 cm. The pseudobulbs are round.

Although rare, it can be found from the dry lowlands (200 m) to the evergreen highlands (over 2000 meters) in all provinces of Thailand and from India to the Solomon Islands. A molecular study of the many geographical morphotypes may reveal that the scientific name is in fact an umbrella for many more species.

If life on Earth was as popular as sports, the current sports sponsorship industry of 40 billion dollars annually would probably be happy to sponsor research and conservation of wild orchids. One cent to biodiversity research and conservation for every soda or beer can would have a dramatic impact on how Earth looks like 1000 years from now. Our actions will affect future generations’ view of us; as egocentric clowns or responsible adults.

This form of Eulophia spectabilis is illustrated in Hooker’s book (1895) “A Century of Indian Orchids” and is also very similar to that illustrated in “Wild Orchids of Peninsular Malaysia” by Ong et al. (2011). Other forms are illustrated in “Thai Native Orchids 2″ by Nannakorn & Watthana (2008) and “Wild orchids of Thailand” by Vaddhanaphuti  (2005).

Text & Photo: Eric Danell

(Precipitation report: on the 9th of May we received 10 mm of rain.)

The lacquer tree (Gluta usitata, Anacardiaceae) is amazingly beautiful both in blossom, when fruiting and when making new foliage. Its traditional use as lacquer makes it a historical relic too.

Ever since our beloved lacquer tree was killed by Dendrophthoe parasites we have tried to re-introduce the species at Dokmai Garden. In 2012 I planted a number of seedlings within the garden. Although 2012 had a poor and mostly dry rainy season, I did not foresee any problems, as this tree grows in very arid situations. However, all seedlings died, and I have heard from some other people about problems in transplanting lacquer tree seedlings from pots to plots.

Generally a pot allows controlled germination and protection from intensive sun, excess water, drought, weeds and pests, but some species seem to have such a vulnerable root system that a transplantation from a pot is very difficult.

Throwing out any type of seeds on the ground is of course an option, but many are lost to rodents, birds and weevils. Planting the seeds under the soil surface will provide some protection.

In the case of lacquer seeds, we simply soaked them in water for two days, and waited until the young roots began to emerge to make sure the seeds were viable. Then we selected a sunny and well drained area with sandy soil and dug a shallow (10 cm) hole in the ground and planted the seed just under the soil surface. Based on observations of its natural habitat, no compost is needed, as that may even contribute to a saturated environment resulting in fungal rots. The place should be marked by hammering a plastic rod into the ground (anything wooden will disappear within months due to termites). Continued watering is recommended since you initiated germination, but after the rainy season allow the seedling a drought dormancy to follow the natural cycle.

A germinating lacquer tree seed after being submerged in water for two days and then left in a moist atmosphere. The root looks like a little red paw grasping for support. Treat it gently!

Text & Photo: Eric Danell

To allow our children a Swedish education and to expose them to Swedish culture, we soon move there. That means Dokmai Garden will be put in a time capsule. It will be exciting to see how the garden and the orchid collection have developed when we return, and by that time Thailand is probably a different country.

VIP card holders may still enter the garden until their cards expire, but please remember to send us an e-mail first. Densak and Nived Seehamongkol will care for the garden together with other family members, but it is no longer open to tours and there will be no restaurant nor any other commercial activities.

The Dokmai Dogma will take a rest too, but we hope the 870+ blogs will still help introducing newcomers to monsoon gardening and jungles.

Ketsanee Seehamongkol and Eric Danell

Do you remember the Eulophia andamanensis orchid? It was pollinated naturally and we hope this pregnant lady (top right) will spread her seeds so that her grandchildren will prosper in our monsoon woodland.

Dear friends of the monsoon flora,

I am briefly back in the saddle again! After three months in temperate but gorgeous Sweden, revisiting my childhood local flora, making archaeological findings and enjoying true ales and Swedish cuisine, I currently pay a short visit to my beloved Chiang Mai. My solitude for three months made me realize home is where my wife is, so I am here to bring her and the kids to Sweden, save a few weeks of vacation.

What happened at Dokmai Garden during my absence? Dokmai Garden is at an explosive growth mode. Upon my arrival I was treated with our own organic pineapples and chog annan Rolls-Royce quality mangoes, more prolific than ever. The guinea fowl have successfully raised a child almost to mature age. I foresee future generations independent of human care! The monsoon woodland is shadier than ever and its orchids prolific and fruiting. Flat-tailed geckos (Cosymbotus platyurus) have challenged the dominance of the spiny-tailed geckos, a welcome change in the reptile fauna.

Today’s blog was triggered by my scream of joy when I went to the garbage shed and realized the creeping fig, Ficus pumila (Moraceae), is fruiting! This anonymous green from southern China and Vietnam, known for its ability to slowly cover walls with green leaves, such as at the Chedi Hotel downtown and the Siam Celadon factory, now displays its natural growth mode with large leaves and….pear-sized ‘fruits’!

Ketsanee calls this ornamental fig ‘tin tokae’ (gecko foot) after its tiny leaves which cling to the surface like gecko feet. Other Thai names are ‘ma duea thao’ (turtle fig) or ‘lin suea’ (tiger tongue). Most of us tropical gardeners experience the plant as a flowerless and fruitless green used to cover ugly walls…..

…but the devoted field biologist or ignorant gardener leaving his plants to develop without trimming will realize its true habit: instead of puny 2.5 cm leaves, ‘untidy’ silvery branches growing out of the main stem will carry 7 cm long (not including the petiole) and stiff leaves. They are almost plastic in their appearance. At times large ‘fruits’ reaching 7 cm may emerge. ‘Pumila means ‘small’, a name coined by the Swedish gentleman Linnaeus in 1753. My many references to Species Plantarum (1753) caught the curiosity of the Biodiversity Heritage Library and they wrote a short presentation about Dokmai Garden here.

This is a section of a Ficus pumila  ‘fruit’ made earlier today at Dokmai Garden. What we refer to as ‘fig’ is not one fruit. More correctly it is a structure unique to the fig genus called syconium (Greek ‘sukon’=fig). It is a fleshy outgrowth of the stem carrying hundreds or even thousands of flowers inside. Each crunchy ‘grain’ is in fact a one seeded fruit. In this picture, the flowers are still in blossom and so it is still inedible.

The flowers and fruits are well protected inside the syconium or fig. An immature and unfertilized fig is loaded with the unpleasant milky sap and so not appealing to bats, monkeys and birds that would only feed on the mature (fertilized) figs. When in blossom, winged female wasps of the Agaonidae family may squeeze through the mouth (ostiole) at the tip of the fig. Inside they lay eggs. Wingless males mate with winged females, and when the females escape they rub against the male flowers at the inside tip of the fig and get covered in pollen. Interestingly, some fig individuals carry male flowers only, providing food for the wasp larvae and pollen for fertilization, while figs with female flowers are pollinated but too long to be used for larval food (the ovipositor can not reach the ovule where the larva develops). Another type of figs carry female flowers only, and they may produce edible fruits without pollination. Gastronomically, fertilized fruits are considered the tastiest. Since the syconiums of this creeping fig are formed far from its natural habitat and its natural pollinators, it is likely they will remain unfertilized and may not be palatable, although there is a chance they might be capable of self-fertilization.

In this picture of the syconium of the common and native ornamental benjamin fig (Ficus benjamina) you can actually see the winged female wasps and their long ovipositors. I collected this ‘fruit’ from a tree outside the swimming pool of ‘Home in Park’. The Dokmai Garden specimens are still too young (six years) to produce any figs. A characteristic of the fig of this species is its yellow colour, small size (2 cm), hairy outside and absence of a stalk. The flavour is a dry, astringent faint shade of true Mediterranean figs (Ficus carica).

Dokmai Garden is still closed but there will be a few upcoming blogs and what the future brings is unknown also to us.

Text & Photo: Eric Danell

Do you remember the blog about the flowers of the Thai sindora (Sindora siamensis, Fabaceae)?

This is the time to harvest and cook their one-seeded pods. The pods resemble flattened horse chestnuts, but their spines exudate a sticky liquid which smells like Christmas tree due to terpenoid compounds.

Collect the fruits while still green. Put them straight on glowing sticks or charcoal….

…and open when they turn black.

Dokmai Garden’s Seehamongkol family traditionally eat the green seed while they discard the yellow arillus which indeed is rubbery and sticky. This was surprising to me, because the purpose of this arillus or elaiosome is to attract animals by its nutrient rich oil, and make the animal throw away the poisonous seed, thereby contributing to the dispersal of the species.

The flavour of the cooked seed or bean is faint and so I have never seen this forest treat in the markets. However, in a community with little cash anything edible is valuable. One day sindora seeds, next day tadpoles, then crickets and so on. Beans are usually rich in protein, but one must not eat raw sindora seeds. Nived Seehamongkol said she did when she was a child, and got sick and dizzy. Spines and chemicals protect the embryo from vegetarians, but cooking allows humans to use many otherwise toxic plants.

Text & Photo: Eric Danell

When German botanist Joachim Shiermeyer came to Dokmai Garden in February he was well prepared with a list of ‘want to see’ downloaded from our species list. His ongoing quest is to photograph representatives of all plant families in the world.

One Dokmai Garden tree from which he collected seeds was Irvingia malayana (Irvingiaceae) which grows behind the Dokmai Garden laboratory. Some Thai names are ‘gabok’, ‘ma luen’, ‘lak kai’, ‘cha ang’ and here in the north ‘muen’. At this time of the year, I often believe I hear somebody knocking on the door, but it is just the heavy fruits falling down on the roof.

Here are two fresh fruits and two fibrous yellow stones which have been cut to expose the white oily seed. In the middle a brown stone from a decaying fruit.

The fruit contains one large seed and I knew that Nived Seehamongkol likes to roast such seeds and eat them like almonds. I gathered a handsome bunch and proudly gave them to Nived. She smiled and said they are too fresh and so very difficult to open. Normally they are collected in February-March when the pulp is gone and the kernels are dry. The kernels are then simply roasted on charcoal. With great effort she used a butcher’s knife to open a fresh seed to show me.

I asked if they ever ate the pulp of the fresh drupe, but she said the fruits are either too hard or too dirty from fermenting on the ground. It is true they remain hard in the tree and only soften on the ground, where the pulp turns soft and juicy with an appealing plum flavour (I did taste them). The seeds seem tricky to germinate. The tree behind the lab has produced thousands of fruits over the years but not a single seedling in spite of a range of nearby habitats. I have also failed to germinate the seeds in pots, but I used seeds collected in February, also from fire-damaged areas. This is in accordance with germination efforts of African Irvingia species and Kew Gardens include Irvingia in the ‘Difficult Seeds Project’. Maybe the seeds need to pass through the guts of a mammal now in August-September to soften and germinate while it is still wet? Seeds left to dry for six months may never soften enough to open and may succumb to fungi or fire?

The trees may grow into majestic proportions according to Ketsanee. I have seen many trees scattered in the nearby national park, but since most big specimens of most of the local 1100 tree species have been logged we have to wait a millennium for the forests to fully recover from the extensive logging in 1880-1988. Flora of Thailand 2:398 claims the wood is not durable and so the wood of this species has been used for making charcoal. That is surprising since African Irvingia species are reportedly durable and termite-resistant. Irvingia malayana is native to the Asian lowlands and can be found in both dry monsoon forests in India, Burma, Laos and Thailand and in the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo.

So, what is this strange family, Irvingiaceae (sometimes included in the families Ixonanthaceae or Simaroubaceae)? There are only about ten species and three genera in the world, all native to the old world tropics. A character in common is the long horn-like stipule which encircles the leaf bud. As to the genus Irvingia, only one species is recorded from Asia, and the other five grow in Africa. The most famous might be Irvingia gabonensis which kernels are used for making ‘gabon chocolate’ or more precisely ‘odika’ or ‘dika bread’. 

The genus name was coined by the Scottish botanist Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865) when he described Irvingia smithii from west Africa in 1860. The name alludes to the Scottish plant collector and navy surgeon Edward George Irving (1816-1855) who collected plants in southern Nigeria while serving on the HMS Prometheus.

At this time of the year, the tree-borne fruits are green and hard and may resemble a lot of other jungle fruits. Some newcomers even think they are small green mangoes and an unfortunate English vernacular name is ‘African mango’ for Irvingia gabonensis. The tip of the fruit resembles a cleft chin, which separates this species from many look-alikes.

An English name? ‘Wild almond’ has been used but since this tree has nothing to do with almonds it is a name as confusing as ‘African mango’ for its African sister. Although the scientific name is its real and precise international name, English names may create an appreciation for the tropical flora outside the sphere of specialists. Therefore this darling deserves a unique and catchy name to show there are more plant treasures in the world than mango and almond. ‘Asian Irvingia’ is obvious but does not add much to the scientific name and remains uncatchy. How about ‘Chin of Prometheus’, alluding to the tree’s mature size (Prometheus was one of the titans), to its (and Prometheus’) friendship with humans, to its (and Prometheus’) association with fire, to Irving’s ship and to the characteristic cleft of the fruit?

Text & Photo: Eric Danell

In previous blogs I have marveled at the ability of many plants to resurrect. As to bamboos it is a widespread truth that when a bamboo flowers it will afterwards die. Fortunately for home gardeners, but unfortunately for biologists, many bamboos rarely bloom. Reportedly bamboo blossom is also quite exact within a clone, all specimens flowering at the same time.

At Dokmai Garden we have a native yellow bamboo Schizostachyum brachycladum (Poaceae) or ‘pai lueang’ in Central Thai. When it flowered I was of course intrigued, but would we lose it?

The flowers of this bamboo are neatly arranged in dense flowering heads. Photo: Jussi Suominen.

Surprisingly, our two specimens which grew almost next to each other, did not flower the same year. The first specimen bloomed in February 2011. After its apparent death I dug up the root system because the dead stumps of the culms looked ugly. The second specimen flowered the following year in 2012. This time I waited a long time to observe the development of the flowering culms. They eventually looked dead or so untidy I cut them down, but somehow I never got around to dig up the root system.

When I returned from Sweden in late August 2013 the root system had sprouted again! The new shoots did not come from the dead culm stumps, but from the roots. They were not a result of seeds because in that case there would be seedlings everywhere.

As it turns out, this bamboo species does not follow the general saying. That might be true for other bamboos such as the famous giants within the Dendrocalamus genus. The ‘pai lueang’ frequently flowers, sometimes annually, but old flowering culms look terribly untidy and to reset it a cosmetic pruning might be necessary.

The advice to the tropical home gardener on how to handle flowering bamboo is first to collect the bamboo seeds which are a treasure. Sow these as soon as possible since they deteriorate quickly. Immediately after seed harvest cut down the untidy culms and wait patiently for the next rainy season. To compensate for the nutrient losses during the reproductive phase provide a generous donation of cow manure.

You can read more about this bamboo species in the ASEAN plant database:

…and Kew Garden’s GrassBase

…but none of these sources provide information on flowering frequency.

Text & Photo: Eric Danell

Dokmai Dogma has treated several banana varieties and species earlier, and today we continue with the red banana Musa acuminata AAA ‘Red Dacca’ (‘gluay nak’, gluay dhaeng or ‘gluay krang’ in Thai).

The origin of ‘Red Dacca’, a sterile triploid selected by man, is obscure. Some say India, some say Central America (other vernacular names are ‘Red Cuban’ and ‘Banana Roxa’). ‘Red Dacca’ may mutate and lose the ability to make red pigments, and such cultivars are called ‘Green Dacca’. All wild banana species originate in east Asia and the wild ancestor of ‘Red Dacca’, Musa acuminata (AA) is native to Malaysia.

The leaf stalks, mid-ribs and base of the pseudostems are red too, making a fruit-less ‘Red Dacca’ plant easy to recognize in a banana collector’s orchard.

Unlike the ‘gluay nam wa’ banana which is widely grown in Thailand, the leaves of ‘Red Dacca’ are unsuitable for cooking, wrapping or serving. Until recently the Thai farmers had no cutlery, no chop sticks and no plates. They had to eat with their fingers and serve all food on banana leaves, and so the banana leaves had to be of superior quality. Poor quality leaves may in fact spoil food by contaminating it with unwanted flavours and bitterness. This is one of the reasons ‘Red Dacca’ is not that common in Thailand and is mostly sold at touristic food markets. Other reasons are the peel’s tendency to crack which indeed frequently occurs here at Dokmai Garden and there is a rumour it may cause skin problems. However, it seems much more popular in Burma where one name is ‘shwe nget-pyaw’. The fresh fruit is in fact delicious; its sweet flavour is nicely balanced with some acidity. The fruit can be used as a cooking banana too, although this is not a plantain (which contains Musa balbisiana genes AAB).

To our experience at Dokmai Garden, ‘Red Dacca’ is much more water demanding than ‘gluay nam wa’ and so it should be planted where you can provide some irrigation during the dry season. This is another reason Red Dacca is not common in the dry Chiang Mai valley.

Fruits of ‘Red Dacca’ may be more or less red, orange or maroon. Many people wonder about this high degree of colour variation. Red, blue and purple colours in leaves, petals and fruits are usually due to anthocyanins, but I have not found any literature with actual analyses of the ‘Red Dacca’ banana peel.

In banana plants anthocyanins normally only occur in high quantities in the banana flowering bracts, and the reason most plants seem to produce anthocyanins in petals and fruits is to attract insects for flower pollination and birds for seed dispersal. The red fruits of ‘Red Dacca’ is due to a mutation and being a sterile selection by man the colour has no selective importance or natural function, although one can argue it is an adaptation to man. Although the anthocyanin in ‘Red Dacca’ may not serve any purpose, the regulation of its concentration may still follow the same mechanisms as in plant tissues where it does play a role. The intensity of anthocyanin colour may depend on 1) fruit maturity, 2) degree of sun exposure, 3) temperature, 4) soil and 5) stress.

1) Red on green (immature fruit) makes the fruit look brownish, red on yellow (mature fruit) makes the fruit look more orange and red on brown (over-ripe fruit) makes a maroon colour.

2) Anthocyanin formation is normally induced by light, but too much solar radiation may destroy the molecule. For instance, the attractive red blotches of the leaves of Sumatran zebra banana (Musa acuminata ssp. zebrina) develop best in a somewhat shady environment, but fade in full sun.

3) Low temperature seems to increase anthocyanin formation although there is a complex correlation involving both solar radiation and temperature in combination. This also means you may experience various degrees of coloration depending on which season and altitude the bananas are formed. This article on anthocyanin formation in Merlot grapes is quite interesting.

4) Presence of metals (as a consequence of soil type) in the cell’s vacuoles where the pigment is located, may influence acidity which in turn influence the colour of the anthocyanin. Soils poor in certain nutrients, a type of stress, may also increase anthocyanin production in many plants.

5) Anthocyanins may play a role in osmotic adjustments (cellular water content regulation) caused by fungal infections, herbivores, nutrient deficiency and lack of rain. If the ‘Red Dacca’ fruits can produce anthocyanins then stress may increase the amount of pigment. An interesting observation is that red autumn colours in many leaves is a phenomenon typical of boreal and cold latitudes while a rare phenomenon here in the tropics. However, tropical plants often produce anthocyanins in young shoots which appear red or purple, probably as an adaptation to the strong solar intensity (like building a roof (anthocyanin) before installing the sensitive machinery (the green photosynthesis apparatus)). You can read more in this splendid review of (foliar) anthocyanins:

The yellow pigment of the flesh inside the fruit is due to carotenoids which can be transformed into vitamin A. That makes ‘Red Dacca’ a more valuable source of that vitamin than the cream-coloured flesh of the common Cavendish bananas.

Indeed we shall plant ‘Red Dacca’ suckers in various environments to study variation in colour.

Text & Photo: Eric Danell

Other Dokmai Dogma banana blogs:

What to do when children go bananas 

From which end of the banana do you eat?

Wild bananas around Chiang Mai

An acidic banana

Grandpa’s banana

Too many bananas

A variegated banana

Banana flower

Thai Yai banana curry

The orchid Bulbophyllum ovatum (Orchidaceae) opened its first flowers ever at Dokmai Garden on the 8^th of September.

The first day the flowers were bright orange, the following days they faded to a pale yellow. The flowers are tiny (a few mm) and only bloom for five days, so it is not strange this orchid has only been known to science since 1979. In addition, hitherto it has only been found in Thailand and here only in the Khao Luang national park in Nakhon Si Thammarat province in the south (there are many Khao Luang mountains in Thailand).

It is not included in the orchid books of the Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden, Nantiya’s ‘Wild Orchids of Thailand’ nor the book ‘Bulbophyllum of Thailand’. Smitinand’s only Thai name is ‘singto phu thong’ which is likely to be a scientist’s name, not a folk name. Ketsanee translates it as ‘the golden lion’s mane’ but all Bulbophyllum are called singto (lion) in Thai, and probably alludes to the tooth-like flowering bud.  An English name is ‘The Egg-Shaped Bulbophyllum’ which does not add much to the scientific name and is quite boring.

Although Ketsanee describes this national park as a magic place, truly a part of unseen Thailand, not many tourists come to visit. In the eyes of an innocent Swede, an orchid must be safe if it is inside a national park protected by law. In reality, rubber tree plantations and orchid theft are serious threats. Recently this province has become known for violent protests by rubber farmers. Ecotourism would render sustainable income but that demands efforts; knowledge in English, biologists and educated rangers and guides, guide books in foreign languages, visitor’s centres, trails and hotels. It is easier to chop down the jungle, plant South American rubber trees and then turn cars upside down if the government does not pay enough for the rubber. The alternative is there, all it takes is funding from the government, a population willing to study and a non-corrupt project manager. There are good examples in Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.

A concern expressed among Thai biologists is that if there is money in a nature attraction, it will be transformed into a theme park to attract domestic mass tourism. Nature in itself has little value to the present generations, but rock concerts, golf courses and fields of tulips do. To market a national park with sensibility, the target should initially be foreign tourists and eventually the locals will be curious and try to find out what the fuzz is about. This is like appreciating Dali, Picasso and Magritte when there is kitsch.

A few decades ago the authorities of Queensland in Australia did not appreciate their natural treasures either, but that has dramatically changed thanks to international tourism and new and more educated generations. A facilitating marketing factor is that the Australians already speak English, and Malaysians share the same alphabet, while many Thais need to start from scratch. Those who do invest in an expensive education need to use their language skills to make money in business, not for saving orchids. Free schools in English with true teachers from English-speaking countries, and money rewards to students for passed exams may even out that basic language obstacle. Education does cost money, but if there is a will to invest 7 billion Baht  to buy 49 army tanks from Ukraine then money can not be a problem.

To market the national park then its endemic inhabitants need catchy English names, so I propose adopting a shortened version of the Thai name: ‘Lion’s mane orchid’.

The Orchid Ark received this precious orchid as a donation from Ekkehardt Schwardtke who runs the Lanta Orchid Nursery and the Orchid Garden Khaolak in southern Thailand.

My aim was to allow it to settle on its substrate during the rainy season, but when I returned to Chiang Mai in late August it had not. That observation, and the observation that many water demanding plants at Dokmai Garden seemed stressed, hints to me there has been a dry period this rainy season. Local northern Thai species do fine and the nearby jungles are as green as ever, but anything from a wetter climate have had a struggle. In  the home of the lion’s mane it rains for nine months. With daily supervision and watering there is no problem, but staff who have never travelled can not imagine that climate can be different elsewhere and so treat all plants as if they were local. The solution is to plant the orchid in a naturally moist area near the gardener’s house and explain this unique orchid’s value and importance to Thai nature.

We also acknowledge the kind donation of Roland Mogg, Chiang Mai.

Text & Photo: Eric Danell

1. First of all I wish to report a new bird species at Dokmai Garden: White-rumped Munia. According to literature this is a common bird found in most of Thailand. However, at Dokmai Garden the Scaly-breasted Munia is far more common, nesting everywhere, while the dark chocolate brown White-rumped Munia has never been reported before, in spite of visits by several distinguished ornithologists. We hope this lonely bird was not just passing by. That makes 101 bird species reported from Dokmai Garden.

2. We decided that before we leave for Sweden, we should boost the remaining chicken population with some new genes. We purchased a rooster quite similar to the red jungle fowl (gai pa) from a nearby farm for 200 Baht. It is kept in a chicken dome at the feeding place for ten days just to make friends with our original chicken and the people here before being released.

3. In previous blogs I have mentioned the dream to introduce hair or naked sheep (i.e. non-woolly and more original sheep) to replace the expensive, time consuming, polluting and noisy lawn mowers. The problem was to get hold of such sheep because they are still rare in Thailand. The military north of town keep woolly sheep but they demand frequent shearing which we do not have time for at Dokmai Garden.

From left to right: Young Shrek and the more experienced ladies Fiona and Bee-Bee working as a mowing team.

On the 14^th we received two Brazilian Santa Inês ewes and a hybrid ram with South African Dorper genes. The ewes will give birth to lambs in about one month’s time. Although the Santa Inês breed is so beautiful with its slick coat, and is well adapted to tropical climate and parasites, we are afraid of inbreeding due to the limited number of individuals in Thailand. A sheep cross would be safer for successful reproduction. After all, mowing is the aim, not pure breeds, and Santa Inês is already a result of crosses including Italian Morada Nova, Italian Bergamasca and Brazilian Crioula. The Dorper is a South African breed, popular in Australia too. Its ancestors are Black headed Persian and Horned Dorset. The Dorper is well adapted to a hot and arid climate and should therefore be a good choice here in Chiang Mai.

An idea for the future is to import Santa Inês sperm  which demands less bureaucracy and costs, but we are migrating to Sweden so I should not get caught too deeply in this project which might be ruined by soi dogs anyhow.

It is estimated that only 10% of the world’s sheep population are hair or fur sheep, and 90% of these occur in Africa. That sheep are rare in Thailand was clear from the crowd of curious villagers encircling the pick-up delivering our sheep. Most villagers have only seen cats, dogs, cows and water buffaloes.

At present the sheep are kept in the former restaurant garden, walking freely to get familiar with people and the area. After about three days we intend to release them into the parking garden but keep their night quarters in the restaurant garden. After that they are ready to graze the main garden. My early observations indicate they eat carpet grass (Axonopus compressus, Poaceae) and sedge (Cyperus leucocephalus, Cyperaceae), but also leaves of bamboo, banana, Wrightia religiosa (Apocynaceae) and Saraca indica (Fabaceae). That means young banana suckers need protection. Unpeeled banana fruits and star fruits were highly appreciated, and so was peeled pineapple. The juicy drupes of the chin of Prometheus (Irvingia malayana, Irvingiaceae) were also appreciated, but the sheep did not swallow the seeds which seem too big for anything but wild boar, elephant and rhino. I tried feeding them the invasive sensitive mimosa (Mimosa pudica, Fabaceae). When I held the bunch in my hand they did not take it, when thrown on the ground they suspiciously tasted some and indeed they swallowed but they walked away before finishing the spiny heap. Tomato fruits and passion fruit were treated in the same way. Our sheep sniffed the leaves of water hyacinth, kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix, Rutaceae) and Mimusops elengi (Sapotaceae) but rejected all. Kaffir lime fruits were not appreciated either.

As night quarters we offer two raised pavilions with rice straw roofs and brick floor, but the first night the sheep preferred sleeping on the bare ground under the Saraca indica tree.

Considering a good Honda mowing machine costs 36000 Baht and demands additional costs for fuel, repair, electric sharpener, additional trimmer, man power and eventually needs to be replaced, three hair sheep with two unborn lambs are cheaper to buy and maintain, and they reproduce rapidly and provide meat and skin. Their mowing is more even and gentle than a rotating blade. Studies show that ladybird populations may decline due to intensive machine mowing but not due to grazing. Since the heavy tropical rains inevitably reshape the landscape a mowing machine sometimes cuts into the undulating soil leaving ugly bare spots. In addition, sheep are cute and add beauty to the landscape while a mowing machine is a necessary evil you stuff away in a shed. A mowing machine at Dokmai Garden may last about five years, a sheep lives 10-15 years.

Tiger, leopard and dhole are extinct in our area and the chance of clouded leopard and Asian golden cat to show up is almost nil. Our only concern are python and stray dogs. The Dokmai Garden fence is 1 km and the sheep night quarter is fenced within the fence, but a defense routine is still necessary. It is almost impossible to prevent access of python but unlike dogs a python would only make one kill. In fact, since dogs are the most abundant medium-sized mammal, it is more likely the python helps us with dog control.

Wild sheep or mouflon (Ovis aries, Bovidae) are native to the arid mountains of western Asia and the Balkan and so sheep are exotic in Thailand. Wild Thai relatives of sheep (subfamily Caprinae) are Southern serow (Capricornis sumatraensis) and Long-tailed goral (Naemorhedus caudaus), both endangered due to hunting. Our initial idea to introduce such species or native deer failed due to lack of interest among governmental institutions. Sheep are still much better than mowers!

Kate and Mika visiting Pong and Kriangkrai at their sheep farm.

Dokmai Garden’s Khun Densak (right) receives the sheep, delivered by Chiang Mai veterinarian Kriangkrai, his wife Pong and daughter Moki.

Fiona (front) is the leader of the herd and the one who takes initiative. When I saw them at the farm I had only eyes for the dark brown beauty Bee-Bee in the background, but Fiona turns out to be more funny and we seem to have a connection. However, Bee-Bee is the sweet tooth of the herd, the only one who grunts of joy when a fruit is offered and who would run to get it, often before her companions. Unlike Fiona she would not touch tomato or passion fruit. The adolescent Shrek has not developed his character yet, but I can already tell he is more fond of taking a break than the ladies. He is also more adventurous in feeding from shrubs.

Text & Photo: Eric Danell

John von Neumann explored the theoretical possibilities to construct self-replicating machines. This is not science fiction. At Dokmai Garden we have self-replicating lawn mowers based on the latest cellular nano-technology. The first flock of three is cheaper than one conventional lawn mower and neither batteries nor electrical cords are needed:

Bee-Bee delivered a healthy boy, Michael, on October 4th, 2013.

Fiona delivered a healthy girl, Malee, on October 9th, 2013.

Other news: Last week we learnt that Dokmai Garden will be included in Lonely Planet’s 2014 Thailand Edition. Noblesse oblige; we work frantically to meet the expectations.

Ketsanee Seehamongkol

Photo: Aree Shettlesworth

Although Dokmai Garden flourishes, tourism suffers as usual during times of political turbulence and embassy warnings. To keep up the spirits I have been asked to write a blog now and then from my exile here in Sweden.

At present I teach botany in Sweden, but a student of mine will spend a few weeks at Dokmai Garden to train his skills as an arborist. As mentioned before, our gigantic forest mango is in need of a tree surgeon to remove parasitic Dendrophthoe parasites.

Another piece of news is that Kew Gardens in Richmond/London will host the 16th Flora of Thailand Conference. I have been invited to give a talk about Dokmai Garden’s Orchid Ark. If more Orchid Arks appear as a result then I can die in peace. Dokmai Garden’s efforts with the Orchid Ark was recently published (Wearn & Schuiteman 2013: Plant Conservation in Thailand: Dokmai Garden and the Orchid Ark. National History Bulletin of the Siam Society 59(1):5-14).

Other reports from Dokmai Garden is that the weather was surprisingly wet this past cool season and fires unusually obnoxious. At present the hot flowering season has just began. The lambs run around as if they own the place and the experiment to keep sheep for mowing seems to have turned out well.

Here in Sweden we have had an unusually mild winter and a very early spring, so I have experienced a most agreeable transition from the tropics to more northern latitudes. Nature displays spectacular views  everywhere you go!

Dalby Söderskog National park, Sweden.

Text & Photo: Eric Danell

A week ago I took my Swedish arborist students to the library at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Alnarp. The aim was to study the 200 years old wooden library.

Larix sp.

Each of the 217 volumes was made from wood of a special tree species. You open a volume like a book, but it is in fact a wooden box containing dried leaves, fruits, seeds, roots, flowers, charcoal samples, bark, pollen and in some cases glass bottles believed to have contained sap. These volumes are not only artistically designed and skillfully made, but are also of great educational value for learning the woods of various tree species. I believe the reason why such wooden libraries no longer are manufactured is the cost as compared to printed books or internet pictures. Still, all 20 students agreed it would be fantastic if they had access to such a wooden library when they studied dendrology (although we booked a guided presentation we could only admire selected volumes behind glass; the bulk of the collection was kept inside a safe).

When I lived in Chiang Mai I investigated the possibilities numerous times to get hold of wood samples of various common indigenous species. Such wood samples would be of great educational value and could perhaps be sold as high quality souvenirs. Although Dokmai Garden is a neighbour of the most famous antique and carpenter street in Thailand, it was quite hard to get more than a dozen of properly identified wood samples. Teak (Tectona grandis, Lamiaceae) dominates the carpentry industry, and a handful of other domestic species are also used, such as Xylia xylocarpa (Fabaceae). It seems the great skills of past carpenters are largely lost today, a consequence of the extensive clear-cutting which in turn led to the logging ban in 1989, making native woods other than imported teak timber rare in the legal workshops.

Establishing Thai wooden libraries at Thai universities seems urgent due to the rapid loss of experienced craftsmen. The immense confusion caused by the inexact meaning of vernacular names, demands a carpenter walking together with a botanist to the forest to select suitable and properly identified trees.

Creating a complete northern Thai wooden library is almost impossible considering there are over 1100 native tree species just in northern Thailand. However, a summary of 200 representatives would still be most useful. The solution to the financial problem in Europe in the early 1800′s were subscriptions. A subscriber recieved a new volume when it was manufactured. An additional difficulty in the tropics is the threat of termites which may turn any wooden collection into powder, while the European collection we studied has stayed almost intact for 200 years.

In spite of the difficulties, I wish the Thai government could invest in a project to preserve, and display, the Thai carpenter’s knowledge about woods. A museum of woods and forests would be a unique and educational venue bridging flora with handicraft and biodiversity awareness.

Text & Photo: Eric Danell, book lover

Quercus robur