Sea hibiscus (Hibiscus tiliaceus)

Waru or sea hibiscus (Hibiscus tiliaceus) is a species in the Malvaceae, a small tree, 5-15 meters high, the stem grows straighter and the crown narrower on fertile soils, while the trunk grows crooked and the crown widens on arid soil.

H. tiliaceus has leaves with long stalks. Strands circular or ovoid or heart shaped, flat edge, diameter up to 19 cm. Veins with glands at the base. The underside has gray hair. The supporting leaves are oval in shape, 2.5 cm long and leave marks at the ends of the branches.

Flowers solitary or in bunches with 2-5 florets. Additional petals 8-11 items, more than half attached. Petals 2.5 cm long and 5 items. Fan-shaped crown, 5-7.5 cm wide. The flowers bloom yellow in the morning, turn orange in the afternoon and turn red in the evening, before finally falling.

Fruit egg-shaped, short beak, imperfect 5 chambers and opens with 5 valves. The seeds are small and light brown. Taproot and yellowish white.

This tree has high adaptability, is tolerant of drought and flooding. Grows well in hot areas with rainfall 800-2000 mm/year. Common in sandy coasts, mangroves and riparian forests. This species grows wild in forests, agricultural land and roadsides.

The leaves contain saponins, flavonoids and polyphenols, while the roots contain saponins, flavonoids and tannins. This plant contains Cyanidin-3-glucoside as the main anthocyanin found in flowers. The leaves exhibited strong free radical scavenging activity and the highest tyrosinase inhibitory activity among 39 tropical plant species.

Light wood, quite dense, fine structure and not too hard. Bluish gray or pseudo purple or purplish brown or greenish. Tough and durable survive in the soil. Commonly used as building materials, boats, cartwheels, tool handles, carving and firewood. Bark is soaked and beaten to obtain fiber and rope for further use as the basis for making nets and bags.

Leaves for animal feed. Young leaves are used as vegetables and soy sauce fermentation process. The leaves are crushed to treat boils, hair fertilizer. Young leaves are boiled with sugar to dissolve phlegm in severe coughs. Leaf buds are used to treat dysentery and mucus in children. Root for fever medicine.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Subfamily: Malvoideae
Tribe: Hibisceae
Genus: Hibiscus
Species: Hibiscus tiliaceus
Subspecies: Hibiscus tiliaceus ssp. hastatus, Hibiscus tiliaceus ssp. tiliaceus
Variety: Hibiscus tiliaceus var. elatus, Hibiscus tiliaceus var. pernambucensis

Thomas Sutikna lives with Homo floresiensis

BLOG - On October 28, 2004, a paper was published in Nature describing the dwarf hominin we know today as Homo floresiensis that has shocked the world. The report changed the geographical landscape of early humans that previously stated that the Pleistocene Asia was only represented by two species, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens . The report titled "A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia" written by Peter Brown and Mike J. Morwood from the University of New England with Thomas Sutikna, Raden Pandji Soejono, Jatmiko, E. Wahyu Saptomo and Rokus Awe Due from the National Archaeology Research Institute (ARKENAS), Indonesia, presents more diversity in the genus Homo. “Immediately, my fever vanished. I couldn’t sleep well that night. I couldn’t wait for sunrise. In the early morning we went to the site, and when we arrived in the cave, I didn’t say a thing because both my mind and heart couldn’t handle this incredible moment. I just went down...

Bitter vine (Mikania micrantha)

Sembung rambat or bitter vine ( Mikania micrantha ) is a plant species in Asteraceae, crawling or wrapped around trees, perennial that grows up to 27 mm per day in tropical climates, branched stems where heart-shaped or triangular leaves are arranged in pairs and a plant can cover more than 25 square meters in a few months. M. micrantha has square-shaped stems or longitudinal bones, light green, many branches and has fine hairs. The stems have segments for lengths of 75-215 mm, each segment has a pair of leaves, new shoots and flowers. New roots grow when the segments come in contact with the soil. The leaves are in pairs and facing each other. Strands do not have hair, heart-shaped or triangular with jagged edges, length 30-125 mm, width 15-60 mm. Petiole is 1-6 cm long and has fine hairs. The flower panicle grows from the armpit of the leaf and the tip of the stem, having 3-15 mm long stems. Each flower head has 4 minor flowers. The crown is greenish-white, tubular and measures ...

Cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica)

Alang-alang or cogon grass ( Imperata cylindrica ) is a plant species in Poaceae, annual grass, sharp leaf, long buds and scaly, creeping under the ground, very adaptive and grows in all climates which often become weeds on agricultural land. I. cylindrica has a sharp pointed tip of the bud and emerges from the ground, height of 0.2-1.5 m but in other places it may be more, short stems, rising up to the ground and flowering white or purplish, often with wreath of hair under the segment. Leaf strands in the form of long ribbons, lancet-tipped with a narrow base and gutter-shaped, 12-80 cm long, very coarse edge and jagged sharply, long hair at the base with broad, pale leaf bones in the middle. The flowers are panicles, 6-28 cm long with long-haired and white-colored ears for 1 cm which are used as a tool to blow off the fruit when ripe. Cogon grass breeds quickly with seeds that spread quickly with the wind or through rhizomes that quickly penetrate the soil. Alang-alang does...

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