BONTOC, Mtn. Prov– The Sangguniang Panlalawigan has finally enacted Provincial Ordinance 349 declaring the Mountain Lily as the Provincial Flower of Mountain Province.
The Mountain Lily has been used as part of both the old and new Provincial Logo of the provincial government.
The recent legislative action was an offshoot of a request from the Provincial Tourism Office for the recognition of the Mountain Lily as official provincial flower and to justify its being used in the provincial logo.
Mountain Lily is from the family of lilicea with scientific name Lilium Philippinense and with local names us-usdong, Toptopkaw, Tuptupcao or Tuktukkaw and is endemic in the Cordillera Central Range of the Philippines. It grows on steep mountain slopes of western Mountain Province.
Other features of the flower indicate that “its bulbs are located at the base of the stem that are odorless, white with yellow tinge along the conic tip, smooth at the base and widest at the middle tip”.
The stem is described to be 1-2 feet high and the leaf is sessile, glabrous, spiral, entire, apex acute and linear resembling a grass blade without leaf sheath but more succulent. Basal leaves are generally broader and longer, than apical leaves.
The flower is pure white in lilies in shades but sun-exposed ones have a purple tinge along the mid-vein of the tepals.
The roots are contractile and adventitious. Contractile roots are under the bulb which pull the plant into the soil. They are more stout and contorted in plants growing in rocky soil.
Authored by Board Member Donato Danglose, Chairperson of the Committee on Environment and Tourism, the Ordinance indicated that it was based on the studies and researches conducted by Teodora Balangcod, Virginia Cuevas, Ashlyn Kim Balangcod, Araceli Ladilad, and others.
The legislative measure directs the chairperson of the Provincial Council for Culture and the Arts to include the matter in the curriculum of instruction in educational institutions of the province.
It also mandates the Provincial Tourism Office and the Mountain Province Environment and Natural Resources Office (MPENRO) to formulate plans and programs propagating Mountain Lilies as part of the beautification program.
“The provincial governor and all the municipal mayors are earnestly requested to cooperate and support the promotion of propagating the provincial flower by appropriating financial and budgetary support for the production, propagation, protection, and development of the same for its tourism and economic values”, the ordinance stated.
The legislative enactment was approved last October 29, 2019 and shall be effective upon publication.**Roger Sacyaten
