Pwunso gymnosperms spice trees timber

A walk of the front garden found a new tree had sprouted.

The glove tree is the global source of all gloves. 

The bus arrived just after 15:53. The size of the class this term, 29 students on the field trip, caused the roll call to be done as a single instance at the end of the walk. 

The Ficus prolixa still seems to take too long for the marginal benefit. Tightening this up might help. A student noted that the aerial roots can be pounded and then used in a herbal steam bath to treat joint pain. 

By 16:01 the class was at the clove trees. No cloves. Again. Kelarimalyanne, Lisarita, Sueleen, and Marikai in the lead. 

At 16:07 the class was headed from the Araucaria columnaris to the Cinnamomum verum.

The cinnamon tree is always in season.

Delaura at the cinnamon tree, Marco behind her to the left. This is one the largest, if not largest, enrollments for this class to date. The class tends to spread out. Those who choose to trundle along at the back edge may or may not be able to hear or clearly see what is happening on the leading edge. Interest in the subject matter may be reflected in who puts themselves where in the crowd that is the class this term.

Some sense of the spread out nature of the class in the field can be gleaned from this photo.

The cycad was sporting a single cone. There were murmurs of surprise from some students. Coffea robusta and Piper nigrum were both still present - just barely. The garden appears to be down to a single coffee tree and a single Piper nigrum.

A handout on Pwunso included a photo with another cycad clearly visible in front of the Japanese agriculture station. A hard copy of the handout was shown to the students at this point.

The nutmeg, Myristica fragrans, was devoid of all fruit. None. A student pulled up a seedling that still had an intact nut, but no mace. Again the spread of the class in the field can be seen - students are stretched back behind the lead group with the tail end still under the nutmeg.

The absence of fruit led to time spent searching both trees in disbelief at the lack of even a single fruit.

Eucalyptus deglupta was brought in as a timber tree. 

Keesha and Marikai

The back gate was locked, but the class had seen a couple of high school students coming up through the garden. Jamal knew that part of the fence behind the facility used for Zumba was down and that the high school students had probably come through that way. He led the group through the shortcut that did not exist previously. The class this avoided going back around the outside of the garden.

The Calophyllum inophyllum was in bloom, which is always a plus because this tree is found on high islands and atolls across the nation. There are names for the tree in all of the languages in Micronesia. 

Austin photographing the Calophyllum inophyllum

Another view of the strung out nature of the class. With the time now 16:36 and load out usually targeting 16:40, the class was running tight on time.

Agathis lanceolata 

Agathis lanceolata

Agathis lanceolata resin

This term ran ten minutes longer than usual, with load out at 16:48. Perhaps a tad long at the Ficus prolixa, perhaps slow at Syzygium aromaticum, definitely delayed at the Myristica fragans due to the fruitless search for fruit. The short cut saved significant time, but still the class was already running late.

The large class makes the Thursday presentation a must. That presentation, even with an expanded coverage of Pwunso, still runs in at one hour. While some videos were jumped out of early, that was not strictly necessary. There is enough time to let the videos run. Forgotten: to bring the Italian espresso maker as that is seen in a background in the coffee video.