76 PHILIPPINE RESINS, GUMS, AND OILS 



Dannerth says that in 1916 approximately 7,347,000 pounds 

 of chicle were imported into the United States. This is equiv- 

 alent to about 30,000,000 pounds of chewing gum. 



Genus PALAQUIUM 

 PALAQUIUM AHERNIANUM Merr. (Figs. 25-28). Kalipaya. 



Local names: Kalapia, kalipaya (Zamboanga) ; salikut (Surigao) ; sa- 

 lukut ( Bukidnon ) . 



GUTTA-PERCHA 



A number of species of this genus produce gutta-percha. 

 The Philippine species containing gutta-percha are numerous, but 

 in most cases the grade is apparently too poor to make its col- 

 lection profitable. The best known of the Philippine gutta-percha 

 trees is Palaquiuyn ahernianum. In the Philippines, commercial 

 gutta-percha is apparently confined largely, if not entirely, to 

 Mindanao and Tawi-Tawi. Here gutta-percha trees formerly 

 existed in considerable numbers, but the method of collection 

 has resulted in the destruction of the trees until, at the present 

 time, the supply in accessible regions has been almost entirely 

 depleted. Formerly considerable quantities of gutta-percha 

 were exported from the Philippines, but now the amount ex- 

 ported is small. In Table 7, are given the exports for the years 

 1915 to 1918. 



Table 7. — Amount and value of gutta-percha exported from the Philippine 

 Islands for the years 1915 to 1918. 



Although the potential supply has been greatly depleted, the 

 amount exported would increase considerably if the collectors 

 received a higher price. At the present time gutta-percha is 

 collected in a desultory manner and sold to Chinese merchants 

 at a small price. It then passes through several hands and most 

 of it finally reaches Singapore. 



According to Sherman,* who made an extensive study of 



* Sherman, Jr., P. L. The gutta-percha and rubber of the Philippine 

 Islands. Bureau of Government Laboratories Publication No. 7 (1903), 

 page 7. 



