Pili (Canarium ovatum Engl) is from the Burseraceae family. In the tropical regions of both hemispheres, this family consists of 16 genera and about 550 species. Pili (Canarium ovatum Engl.) is a promising Bicol crop which, as a major export crop, has great potential for growth. It is widely suited to different agro-climatic conditions. It can be grown alone or with other crops inter-cropped.Like a coconut, Pili is a tree of life, useful in all its sections.It thrives satisfactorily at low and high altitudes in maginal soil conditions, harsh tropical climates and. Typhoons and most pests are immune to it. The tree is about 20 to 25 meters high and about a meter or two in diameter. Pili Nuts (Canarium ovatum) is one of the most important export commodities in the Philippines.
Pili is a deciduous, mainly dioecious, mediumsized to large, erect to spreading tree that can reach a height of 30 m or more. It is likely that very old trees have a trunk diameter of more than 50 cm. The leaves are spirally arranged, imparipinnate, and about 40 cm long, having persistedeltoid to lingulate stipules. Ovate to elliptic leaflets, 424 cm long and 212 cm high, stiffcoriaceous, whole, oblique base, rounded to subcordate, abruptly acuminate apex and 812 pairs of nerves. The flowers in the leaf axils of the young shoots are borne on cymose inflorescences. The inflorescence is about 7 cm long on female trees and has 36 flowers, while the inflorescence is about 10 cm long on male trees and has an average of 18 flowers. The calyx is saccate, gamosepalous in the female flower, about 1.5 cm long, 1 cm wide and has three thick, light green sepals. The three petals, which are greenish-yellow, are about 2 cm long and 1 cm wide. From the base of the disk, the six non-functional stamens form. The pistil is about 7 mm long and consists of a superior functional ovary, a 1.5 mm long, simple style, and a three-lobed stigma. There are three locules in the ovary, each with two ovules, but typically a seed may produce only one of the six ovules. The calyx, 6 mm long and 4 mm wide, is also saccate in the male flower and consists of three green sepals tinged with yellow orange at the ends.
The three oblong greenish petals, inwardly concave, are about 10 mm long and 5 mm wide. The size of the pistil is substantially decreased and the six functional stamens are still attached to the vestigial ovary 's base. The few hermaphrodite flowers in a small number of male trees are similar in all respects to the male flowers, except that the former have functional pistils. These trees can bear fruit, but they are much smaller than those of the female trees. The fruit is ovoid to ellipsoid, 4-7 cm long, 2.3-3.8 cm in diameter and weights 15.7-45.7 g, generally referred to as a nut, but botanically, a drupe. The pulp consists of a thin skin (exocarp) that is smooth and glossy and turns as the fruit ripens from light green to purple or almost black, and a fibrous, dense flesh (mesocarp). The shell (endocarp) originates from a carpeller. The inner layer originates from the innermost epidermal cells surrounding the loculi, while the various hypodermal cells grow their outer layer. The shell is elongated and trigonous, with its corners rounded and one of its sides broader than the others, and is almost triangular in transverse section. The shell 's basal end is pointed, while there is a more or less blunt or obtuse apical end. Outside, it is tawny to almost dirty brown, and inside it is more or less brown, shiny and glabrous. The practical locule, containing the mature seed, which often has distinct grooves on the outside that signify the position where the shell breaks when the seed germinates, is on the wide side of the shell, which is always concave or elevated. The seed is composed of a brown, papery seed coat that has two white cotyledons surrounding the embryo. The kernel weighs 0.74-5.13 g and makes up 4.4-16.6 percent of the fresh fruit as a whole.
In the Bicol region, the southern part of the Luzon Islands, Pili Nut trees are mainly grown. Most of them are grown wild in the woods or backyards, but farmers in Bicol have already learned to raise them commercially on farms. Other neighboring provinces or islands like Tablas are also starting to have pili nut farms of their own. It provides additional income to some 13,435 farmers who own at least 10 trees and farm workers working as harvesters (Benchmark survey, 1998). It plays an important role in the economy in Bicol pili. The processing industry generates jobs for thousands of individuals, such as traders, producers, assemblers, factory employees, shopkeepers and others, who provide various industry-related services. There are currently around 256 businessmen active in the pili market. Only 31 are registered, however it was chosen as the flagship crop of Bicol, conscious of the great potential of Pili as a commercial crop. Therefore, there is currently a concerted effort by various agencies and some NGOs to accelerate the growth of the region's industry. Therefore, with much hope for this crop to become an export winner in the near future, the elevation of pili as the 8th subnetwork under the Philippine fruit RDE Agenda is welcomed.