Kamungay, Malunggay, Horse radish tree;  pterigosperma Gaertn. (Family Moringaceae) (M. oleifera Lam.) A small tree with tuberous roots and fern-like foliage. The leaves and the fruits are often sold to Indians and Malays. The leaves are 3-4 times pinnately compound, leaflets are oval shaped and attrached to a stalk with a swollen base.  The pungent essence in all parts of the plant is distinctive. This tree was found wild in Northern India and has spread to various parts of the tropics through cultivation.

Gabi Taroroot; Colocasia Esculenta Schott. (Family Araceae) An erect, herbaceous perennial aroid with large peltate leaves on long petioles. The corms differ in colour and size, the most popular being keladi China - a cylindrical corm about 30cm long with pinkist white flesh.  Both leaves and tuber are acidic but the acridity is  destroyed by cooking or baking. This plant rarely flowers, as a result of a long history of cultivation based of vegetative propagation. Taro is now known as a wild plant. It is a native of india and parts of South-Eastern Asia, 

Gabi

Labong Bamboo Shoot; Dendrocalamus Asper Backer. (Family Bambusaceae) A tropical bamboo whose young shoots (stem sprouts) are very common vegetables in South Asia. Edible shoots are also from Bambusa Vulgaris and other Bambusa species or related genera such as Phyllostachys. Most bamboo shoots are poisonous in the raw state, containing large amounts of hydrocyanic acid which is destroyed when the shoots are boiled. It is native of the Old World through several species have been cultivated in the New World. The Indian monsoon region is the home of many bamboos.

Tangkong, Kangkong, Water Spinach;  Ipomoea Aquatica Forsk. (Family Convolvulaceae) A perennial semi-aquatic plant producing long shoots which trail over the water or mud, rooting freely at the nodes. Flowers are white or pink and leaves are arrow-shaped and stem hollow. At least two varieties are cultivated. The aquatic form planted by Malays in the rice fields, provides a succulent leaf vegetable called "water kangkong" which is a major ingredient in a popular malaysian dish: . It also occurs wild. The other variety is the dryland form, grown from seeds as are other vegetables except it requires plenty of water. Water spinach probably originated in India and has been distributed throughout the tropics.

Camote, Sweet Potato; Yam. Ipomoea Batatas Lam (Family Convolvulaceae) A trailing herbaceous perennial rooting from the nodes. Many varieties are cultivated for their tuberous roots or edible leaves. Root tubers are formed in the top 25cm of the soil by secondary thickening in adventitious roots. A single plant can produce several tubers. These edible tubers vary in size, shape and colour but the variety sold locally has simple, dark green leaves that are ovate-deltoid, often 3-lobed at the base and with entire magins. The plant is native to tropical America, having been cultivated there for centuries. The first sweet potatoes were brought to Europe from America by Columbus in 1492, and to Africa by the Portuguese. It spread to the Pacific Islands and then to Asia.

Petchay Chinese White Cabbage; Bok Choi. Brassica Chinensis Juslenius (Family Cruciferae)  This cultivar has fleshy snow white petioles and dark green leaves A glabrous annual or biennial with mature radical leaves loosely set, leaving the stalk bare for a great part of its length. Blade bright dark green are rounded with noticeable white veins, tapering below into a long white fleshy petiole, usually expanded at the base.. It is a neat upright plant which is harvested when quite small, with about 8 leaves and only 15cm tall. It originated in Eastern Asia and has grown extensively in China and Japan. It has now spread to Malaysia, Indonesia and many parts of the world. 

Napa Cabbage
 

Bok Choy (pechay)

Repolyo Cabbage;  Brassica Oleracea var. capitatat L. (Family Cruciferae) A biennial which produces a large, more or less dense "head" of leaves from a condensed stem in the first year, then a large open racemose inflorescence in the second. Cabbages are harvested after the "head" has been formed. Leaves are eaten cooked or raw in salads and sometimes fermented in brine to make sauerkraut (sour cabbage). The plant is native to the Mediterranean region of Europe.  Sometime, soon after the domestication of plants began, people in the Mediterranean region began growing this first ancient "cabbage" plant as a leafy vegetable. Because leaves were the part of the plant which were consumed, it was natural that those plants with the largest leaves would be selectively propagated for next year's crop. This resulted in large and larger-leafed plants slowly being developed as the seed from the largest-leafed plants was favoured.

Cabbage patch in the Municipality of Sergio Osmeña

Okra,  quimbombo, Abelmoschus esculentus or *Hibiscus esculentus Okra is heat loving crop, originating in North Africa, where it was been cultivated for centuries. Okra was introduced to Brazil in 1658 and entered North America with the slave trade. With an increasing interest in regional cooking, okra is finding its way into more grocery stores. Member of the Mallow family and is closely related to the tropical flowering hibiscus. This close relationship explains the large, attractive, yellow flowers produced by this plant. The heart-shaped, lobed leaves have long stems and are attached to a thickly wood stem. The fruit develops in the leaf axil and is a long generally ribbed pod that develops rapidly after flowering.

Okra

Ahos, Bawang.  Ajo, Garlic;  Allium Sativum L. (Liliaceae) Garlic plant is a biennial herb. Its bulb is compound one and consists of small bulbs or bulbils termed "cloves". Each clove is formed from the axil of an outer cylindrical leaf that serves a protective function and an inner storage leaf surrounding the bud. The group of small segments or cloves is surrounded by a thin white or pinkish shealth. The flavour of garlic is more powerful than other bulb crops. The characteristic smell is due to the liberation of an enzyme, allinase, which acts on its substrate allinine, breaking it down into an active compound allinin. The foliage is flattened rather than hollow like that of the onion. The history of garlic dates back to time immemorial.  It is not known as a wild plant. Central Asia is probably its prime origin and Mediterranean a secondary centre

Ahos

Calabasa, Japanese Squash,  Cucurbita Moschata Duchesne (Family Cucurbitaceae) A robust annual which creeps on the ground. Fruits are large, variously-shape, brown with golden yellow flesh. The interior of the fruit is hollow containing a number of large seeds attached to a surrounding placenta. It has many varieties, all of which are considered pumpkins or winter squashes. According to archaeological evidence, the plant has been growing in North and South America for several thousand years .Its naturalized in Asia, Africa or America.

Calabasa Field