196 PHILIPPINE PALMS 
TABLE III.—Stand of buri palms (Corypha elata) ete—Continued. 
[Plants per hectare. ] 

Size of plant. 
(Figures represent number of trees per hectare). 


Without trunk. Total 
Number of Area of Area plants 
block. block. | surveyed. on one 
hectarc. 
Height in meters. ‘With trunk. 

| 
Less than 1. towns Morethan2.| 
| Hectare. | Hecture. 
a ees 1, 795 0.5 | 300 402 | 1, 968 10 2,680 | 
Deak pers Ss | 386 | 1.2 | 85 100 527 | 1 713 
eee ee ieee 1, 109 0.5 150 550 1, 026 4 1, 730 
fee bes vee | 919 0.3 238 | 200 ORei| <= tesa: 1,422 | 
eet 2 eae | 376 0.4 402 402 1, 570 | 5 2, 379 


Average = 272) \-e"| te eee 235 331 | 1, 215 | 4 1, 785 
| | | 

Among Philippine palms, the buri ranks next to the coconut 
and nipa palm in economic importance, yet in few parts of the 
Archipelago is it fully utilized. It does not supply material of 
any special export value except the buntal and Calasiao hats. 
This palm is widely distributed in the Philippines at low and 
medium altitudes, extending from northern Luzon to southern 
Mindanao, Palawan, and the Sulu Archipelago. In some re- 
gions it appears as a widely scattered palm, and is occasionally 
planted. In other regions it is exceedingly abundant, grega- 
rious, and locally the dominant species. Mr. Franks * reports 
approximately 2,000,000 trees on an area of 5,000 hectares in 
Mindoro, of which about 12 per cent were mature. The island 
of Burias is said to take its name from this palm. Ranger 
Rola has made valuation surveys in a buri forest covering 
approximately 5,000 hectares in the Rio Chico region, Pam- 
panga Province, Luzon. The surveys were made on five dif- 
ferent blocks. The results are given in Table III. These 
five blocks covered a total area of 4,585 hectares. They con- 
tained 9,205,710 buri palms. Most of the plants were over 2 
meters in height but without clear trunks. Of such sizes, there 
were 6,368,432 palms on the area. Buri is especially abund- 
ant in the provinces of Pangasinan, Pampanga, Tayabas, Cam- 
arines, and Sorsogon in Luzon, and in parts of the islands of 
Palawan, Mindoro. Panay. Negros. Mashate. Cebu. Bohol, and 
Mindanao. 

* Philippine Craftsman, Volume I (1912), page 194; Philippine Journal 
of Science, Sec. A, Volume VI (1911), page 168. 
