MY 33-YEAR-OLD MEGAPHYLL

by: Norberto Betita

Figure 1 (33-year-old Megaphyll)

Megaphylls are Pteridophytes or ferns and their allies in the plant family. Its foliage leaf has parallel vascular bundles through the lamina. The megaphylls of ferns are large pinnate leaves called fronds. It has neither flowers nor seeds. Its reproductive structure is composed of spores or microorganisms produced through a process called meiosis in sporangia or sporangial clusters. Spores are released from the parent plant to produce free-living gametophytes. These are generally carried into the air or by ants and thus produce new plants. This type of Megaphyll originates with a very tiny sprout and eventually grows into a large fern with leaves measuring more than one meter.

Figure 2 (33-year-old Megaphyll)

This specimen (figure 1 & 2) is one of my original collections. This was originally planted in 1981 as a landscaping plant in the grounds of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Surigao City, Philippines. Generally ferns do not thrive under the heat of the sun. Through the years this plant had not grown beautifully because it was planted in an area under direct sunlight. One summer I found it abandoned with all leaves and aerial roots dried, and without any sign of life. It has no penetrating roots and it was so easy to pluck its body from the ground where it originally stood. I brought it home hoping to save it. I planted it first on a pot under the shade of a tree. With continued caring the plant begun to show a few fronds and eventually survived. Its black dried aerial roots accumulated through the years measuring about 2 feet remained to look ugly although the fern had already produced large leaves. So I decided to reduce the length of the body only to find out that within was kind of a very hard trunk which needed to be cut by a saw.  After cutting I noticed that the plant seemed to shrivel. I thought that the trunk must have been part of its source of life. Yet I tried to care and preserve it. It was only months after that it recovered. I then transferred it in a fabricated concrete stand. After fifteen years at home or a total of more than 33 years of its known existence (It was already fully grown when planted in 1981) it has survived. Another variety of fern binds its aerial roots.

Figure 3 (15-year-old Megaphyll)

Figure 4 (15-year-old-Megaphyll)

The small Megaphylls which I collected sprouting on trunks of Cycas Revoluta palms the same year, which I understand to be products of that original specimen, are now grown for fifteen years (see figures 3, 4, 5 & 6). Since I have these plants, more and more had grown in my backyard and they usually sprout on the base of my bonsai trees (see figures 7, 8 & 9). Many times I have to throw them as grass, because I only have a very small space to accommodate them.  Some of them I left to grow on the base of my Cycas Revoluta Bonsai specimens (se figures 10, 11 & 12).

Figure 5 (15-year-old Megaphyll)

Figure 6 (15-year-old Megaphyll)

Figure 7 (Several new sprouts of Megaphyll
on the base of "Tugas-bato" bonsai)

Figure 8 (New sprouts of Megaphyll
on the base of Acacia tree bonsai)

Figure 9 (New sprout of Megaphyll
on the base of Ficus Septica Bonsai)

Figure 10 (Megaphyll growing on the base
of a Cycas Revoluta bonsai)

Figure 11 (Megaphyll growing on the base
of a Cycas Revoluta bonsai)

Figure 12 (Megaphyll growing on
the base of Cycas Revoluta bonsai)

This Megaphyll variety is very good as house plant only that it would require care because it usually is used as havens for ants. However, it can easily be controlled by insect sprays.  Its beautiful large green leaves are really very ideal and attractive inside the home or office.

WILLOW LEAF FIG (FICUS SALICIFOLIA/FICUS NERIFOLIA)

by: Norberto Betita

Root-over-marble rock. Since 1999

In my bonsai hobby, I have learned to try to care for a Willow Leaf Ficus scientifically known as Ficus Salicifolia or Ficus Nerifolia. My original specimen was acquired as a very small commercial plant which was then grown in a shallow pot to be trained for a bonsai. I discovered that such a ficus variety seemed to be more resilient growing in a tropical environment as it is in the Philippines than all others of my ficus specimens. It is also one of the fastest growing varieties. During pruning I tried to experiment on growing a cutting from my original tree by plucking a branch where an aerial root grows. I found that this small branch were easily propagated and grown.

My oldest specimen is now more than fifteen years. I have been training ficus bonsai and other trees for already twenty years. I realized that the willow leaf ficus have very strong roots, particularly as concerns long exposure to heavy rains. I noticed that its roots are not easily decayed or drowned even when exposed to long wet pot soil during rainy season, unlike other ficus varieties. Its aerial roots are not easily subjected to insects or ants attacks.

Two trunks fused as one. Trained since 1998

During the last fifteen years I have discovered that its aerial roots can grow almost as big as its original trunk providing additional strength to the branches, especially when properly fed and cared for. I also tried a root-over-rock style and its roots held tight into the rock. Since my first commercial specimen, I should have raised more, but I do not have sufficient space for them to be properly sheltered. Most of my remaining few specimens is trained between thirteen to more than fifteen years. They are trained purely from small cuttings planted in a shallow pot. Inner roots can be left to grow without root-pruning and in due time it can grow bigger and longer to measure approximately one foot or more which could then be restyled for a root-over-rock specimen.

Three trunks fused since 1999

While it is recommended to conduct regeneration pruning at least two to three years, I do it almost every year during summer to reduce the size of its leaves. However, I noticed that after pruning the new leaves became smaller, but very soon the added numbers of new leaves are again back to its original size with longer twigs thereby increasing the size of the crown. They thrive very well even in the very hot sun, and just continue to produce new leaves all year round. Perhaps this is due to the tropical climate that we have in the Philippines. Sometimes twice in a year I have to prune the tree to reduce the crown to be in balance with the base.  

Single tree since 2000

Two of my remaining four specimens were fused; one with two trunks and another with three smaller trunks. Some of my specimens were already sold.

I so loved these plants and enjoyed caring for them and seeing them in my small backyard. I would recommend this variety for beginners because of its resilience that allows it to be grown even by neophyte hobbyist.

BINDING ROOTS – MY ROOT-OVER-ROCK (ISHITSUKI) STYLE BONSAI

by: Norberto Betita

I have long since liked to plant more bonsai on rocks experimenting on how a few small roots could eventually grow into a fantastic display of complex aerial roots and bind the rock. Most of my rock dweller specimens are of the Ficus variety and a few Schefflera.  These plants are the only varieties that could really bound the rocks upon which they are planted even to the end of covering the whole rock with enlarged and growing number of aerial roots.

One of the fastest binders I have observed is the Ficus virens var. Sublanceolata.  Except for a few specimens which are grown from seeds, these trees were raised from out of small cuttings originally planted in deeper pots until they grow two or three longer and larger roots, The growing specimens were then replanted over dead coral rocks with their roots reaching the soil. The roots are bound into the rock for it to hold on. As they start to take the nutrients, more aerial roots grow and are guided towards the soil. As these aerial roots reached the soil they grow and again produce other roots until they are multiplied more and more eventually binding the rock tightly that you can pull the plant without dropping the rock.

Ficus Rubiginosa (Rusty Fig) is also one variety that produces multiple roots and very resilient. It can produce more branches even when planted over a rock and provided with very limited soil only. It easily produces more fruits even with very limited nutrients. Its leaves are shiny and grow faster. When pruned it easily produces new shoots. Small birds usually enjoyed feeding from these trees because of its abundant fruits. Seeds from the wastes of birds are carried by ants into the crevices of concrete blocks and new trees grow as epiphytes growing on decorative rocks on walls.  These new trees in crevices are good specimens for another root over rock style because they produce longer roots while growing in crevices dependent on air and minimal water.

Like the Ficus Rubiginosa, the Ficus Microcarpa (Ficus Crassifolia or Wax Ficus) is also a rock binder and dweller, and good fruit producer. It produces fruits the whole year round.It can survive over a rock with very limited soil. Its leaves are round and shiny and thick. It is a dwarf variety with short and smaller branches especially when grown in a shallow pot. I had not seen this variety growing into a large tree in our place even if planted on natural ground. It can easily be reproduced from a cutting especially when it is cut together with an aerial root and planted with it.

The aerial roots of a Ficus Retusa (Banyan Fig or Taiwan Ficus) variety usually grow from the top down. When properly guided and regularly checked, they bind the trunk and into the rock where the trunk is planted until it reached the soil. As more aerial roots are produced the whole trunk is covered and even the rock becomes almost invisible that the large multiplied roots forms like a large trunk.  

The Willow Leaf Ficus (Ficus Celebensis) variety is also a rock dweller. It also produces more aerial roots which I found to be generally more resilient than other aerial root. For some reasons these aerial roots are not easily rotten even during rainy days when they are left under daily rains and exposed to root drowning. This variety also easily produces new shoots when pruned. Its branches are fast growing.

Hawaiian Umbrella Bonsai Tree
(Arboricola Schefflera)---Exposed Roots Style

The living art of bonsai is not only an antidote to life’s stresses but it also opens one’s heart and mind to some of the most important lessons of life. The daily watch of the struggles of these little trees to grow and bear fruit in a very limited soil and very shallow containers with so little space for water and nutrients essential to its growth, leaves for the bonsai hobbyist and bonsai collectors lessons of hope and assurance that life can be joyful and satisfying notwithstanding adversities and trials. The ability of these little plants to thrive and bloom even in such unfavourable circumstances, help us to better understand the living reality that life is indeed a test of survival, and those who endure are blessed with growth and progress.

Hawaiian Umbrella Bonsai Tree
(Arboricola Schefflera)---Root-Over-Rock Style

In the spiritual perspective, it leads us to an undeviating consciousness of the wonders of creation and the eternal purpose of life. As humming birds come to partake of the fruits of these little trees, we are reminded of the words of Jesus Christ, “Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they.” (3 Nephi 13: 26). As new shoots develop and grow into bunches of beautiful and green shiny leaves, our minds could easily recount these words from the Creator Himself, “...Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of this. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, even so will he clothed you, if ye are not of little faith.” (3 Nephi 13: 28-30). It could also be a reminder that, “...all things which come of the earth,... are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart. Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul.... to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion.” (D & C 59: 18-20). I love my rock dweller (Ishitsuki) bonsai trees.

GROWING LARGE-LEAVED TREES FOR BONSAI

GROWING LARGE-LEAVED TREES FOR BONSAI

 Many bonsai hobbyist generally opt to use varieties of trees with smaller leaves for bonsai. In my study however of the bonsai art I find no limitation or constraint as to the use of particular tree varieties.  As a shift to the generally accepted norms in the field of bonsai art, I tried to grow trees with large leaves as bonsai. I found it very interesting and fulfilling.

The following varieties are part of my collections:

Balubituon also called Botong

Butonica Rumphiana Miers

I grow these trees from the seeds I found on the coastal shores of San Francisco, Surigao del Norte, Philippines. The fruit is a little more than my fist size. These specimens have since grown on pots changed from time to time. These were never planted on natural ground. These trees naturally grow to a height of about 8 to 15 meters. Leaves are large, thick and shiny and measures about 20-40 centimeters. Despite growing in a small and shallow pot, its leaves are still large. I have tried to reduce the size of its leaves through regeneration pruning, but not much change is observed. They grow new leaves simultaneously. These are good for home and office decoration.

Octopus Tree or Schefflera

Schefflera Actinophylla

This specimen is a variety of Schefflera Actinophylla which is an evergreen tree with compound medium green leaves. It can grow up to a height of 15 meters when planted on natural ground. It produces long and easily multiplying aerial roots, especially during rainy days. Stalks of compound leaves are easily detached from the main stem.  Each time it buds it also produce new aerial roots. When guided down to the soil these aerial roots can grow and become beautiful part of the bonsai art. These specimens were grown from cuttings.

Bitaug Tree

Calophyllum Inophyllum

This variety is growing abundantly in the coasts of Surigao del Norte, Philippines. This specimen was grown from a seedling I collected from the rock-strewn shorelines of San Francisco, Surigao del Norte. This is a medium to large size tree with medium to large size of thick elliptical glossy leaves when grown naturally. It thrives even in stony shorelines. Its leaves and fruits are said to be poisonous. It is believed that the calophyllum oil produced from its seeds is of medicinal use.

Indian Rubber Tree

Ficus Elastica Gold – Moraceae

The original specimen of the variegated variety of ficus elastica was acquired from a plant dealer. These specimens were taken from my own cuttings from the original. This is a large tree with strangling aerial roots. It is generally found planted in parks because of the shade provided by its long and leaves-satiated cascading branches. Leaves are large and thick with yellow patterns. This is said to have been introduced in the Philippines during the American period.

  

Moreton Bay Fig

Ficus Macrophylla

The original specimen of this ficus variety was found as an epiphyte on a dead coral stone in the shoreline of San Francisco, Surigao del Norte. It was already given as a gift to the friend of my daughter. This is one of the remaining specimens grown as raft style bonsai from cuttings of the original bonsai tree. This ficus variety is said to be common in New Zealand and Australia, I have not yet seen a large tree of this variety growing on natural ground. The original plant must have been from the waste of a frugivorous bird. I observed that its leaves are not easily susceptible to natural enemies.

Hauili Tree

Ficus Septica – Moraceae

It is also known as Tabog tree in many Visayan provinces in the Philippines. It is a small tree which grows from 6-8 meters in height. The leaves are smooth and shiny with pointed tip. It bears fruit the whole year round and a good feeder for frugivorous birds. It is a very common site even in residential areas and subdivisions. This is probably because of its ability to bear fruit that most birds carry its tiny seeds to different parts of the community. Some of its rotten fruits are also eaten by ants and their seeds are carried in crevices of concrete canals and hollow block fences where its roots dig deep into the natural soil. When pruned it produces fast new shoots and branches. It is said to be a natural source of many medical uses and benefits.

All of these specimens were trained for already more than ten years.  Most of them are grown in 8” x 9” x 2” concrete pots, others in 9" x 12" x 1.5" and wider pots of the same thickness and some on more shallow home-made concrete pots. These specimens will look more wonderful when planted in commercial bonsai containers. Above pictures where taken on my bonsai working areas.