Malunngay
Malunggay is one of the most common vegetable trees throughout the Philippines, especially in settled areas with low and medium altitudes.
The young leaves flowers and fruits are widely used as vegetable and are very rich in calcium, iron and phosphorus. They can be used for salad or cooked with other vegetables or with either meat or fish.
The leaves as poultice are useful in reducing glandular swelling. Decoction of the roots is considered to revive delirious patients. It is also used for cleaning sores and ulcers. The bark is used as rubefacient applied to the bites of snakes to prevent the poison from spreading. The bean oil from the seeds is said be used for salads and culinary purposes and it is also a good illuminant.
How to plant
Malunggay can be grown in any kind of soil provided that it is well-drained. For best results, however, loam and clay loam soils containing a fairly good amount of humus are the best.
Malunggay cuttings are planted before the rainy season. Commercially, matured cuttings are preferred for they sprout earlier and grow faster.
Inpreparaing the cuttings, desired branches are cut one meter or more in length. These are planted directly into the field taking into consideration that the older portion is buried in the ground at a depth of not more than one foot.
In some places in the North where it is planted not only as vegetables but also for fencing purposes, cuttings are planted at a distance of one meter. But an ideal distance should be five meters each way to give room for the expansion of the top.
Malunggay does not need much cultivation except brush weeding like other vegetables. When planted at the right time. It does not need any irrigation or watering.
Source : DA