Native endemic species are trees naturally occur in one country or island.
Below are the listing of four (4) native Aquilaria endemic species to the Philippines as per DENR Administrative Order (DAO) 2017-11 namely;
- Aquilaria citrinicarpa – Agododan
- Aquilaria parvifolia – Butlong Liitan
- Aquilaria urdanetensis – Makolan
- Aquilaria apiculata – Mangod
Only Aquilaria parvifolia as of this writing, we collected specimen found in our arboretum that is undergoing DNA Barcoding Test.
Endemic species are plants and animals that exist only in one geographic region. Species can be endemic to large or small areas of the earth: some are endemic to a particular continent, some to part of a continent, and others to a single island. Usually an area that contains endemic species is isolated in some way, so that species have difficulty spreading to other areas, or it has unusual environmental characteristics to which endemic species are uniquely adapted.
Mirriam Webster dictionary