Quick walk at Petai Trail

This weekend I was back in MacRitchie again but took a much faster pace than normal as I had to meet my friend soon.

Some climber from the family Connaraceae, probably Agelaea borneensis. It was a pity that the flowers had just died out.

 
A racket-tailed drongo was perched a few metres on a low lying branch, and it stayed there even when two people passed directly under it, both bird and humans oblivious to each other.

 
The only flower which I managed to find is this Clerodendrum deflexum, a small shrub.

 
Finally a Dipeterocarp which seemed rather common there, Hopea mengarawan.

 
This could have been the shot of the day for me, if not for the silly compact camera that can’t focus manually. A slender squirrel chewing on what looked like an acorn fruit. Perhaps its time to buy an SLR…

 
A cluster of fruit belonging to an unknown plant.

 
The same plant which I saw last week. More of the fruits are turning black, though they do not appear to be completely riped.

 
Some climbers use hooks to climb. But for this common climber, Indorouchera griffithiana, the hooks thicken upon hooking on another or the even on itself.

Another pleasant trip to MacRitchie

Here I am, back again in MacRitchie Reservoir Park. This time, with the company of KY, PY and her bf, I managed to take much more pictures of interesting wildlife.

 
Here is a little caterpillar on the stipule of the smelly bean, Parkia speciosa.

Shiny fruits from this common climber, Gynochthodes sublanceolata.

 
Flowers of Clerodendrum lavifolium.


Opposite the bank, a giant rattan (Plectocomia elongata) bearing majestic fruits (or flowers?).

Also, we can see the fruits of the smelly beans tree (Parkia speciosa), with several long-tailed macaques feeding on them.

 
It is always pleasant to see flowers and fruits. This unknown Rubiaceae plant has small clustering flowers.

And carries lots of berries, blackening when ripened. Update: Urophyllum hirsutum.

With the help of KY, I can finally identify Prunus polystachya. This genus have a characteristic butt-like glands at the petiole.

A shrub with attractive flowers. Can’t wait to know its ID. Update: Chassalia curviflora

Probably the surprising find of the day. With the help of SD, this is a pig-tailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina). There are only two extant species of native monkeys in Singapore, the long-tailed macaque and the banded leaf monkey, so I guess this is probably an escapee.

Another unknown plant that is fruiting~

Please help if you know the identity! Thanks to WF for the ID.

Search for Pemphis acidula

After a failed attempt to search for the plant as stated above about a month back, KY, CK, WF, A and I were back again at the shore near Changi. This plant was first discovered by Ria and gang.

Trekking through the rustic grassland,

 
and reaching this small reservoir, which when high tide comes will probably connect to the sea.

There were some Rhizophora saplings in the reservoir.

 
These are the fruits of the sea lettuce (Scaevola taccada). All of them were bearing juicy white fruits.

 
Some other mangrove plants include the red flowered Lumnitzera littorea,

 
and the white flowered Lumnitzera racemosa.

 
Also in abundance is Bruguiera cylindrica (above), and Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea (picture not shown).

 
And of course, the highlight of the day, Pemphis acidula. This critically endangered plant is probably the only one individual left on mainland.

 
The flower, with very short stamens. It is insect-pollinated and not self-compatible. Hence, WF and CK were suspecting another plant is nearby since this is fruiting. But we were unable to locate it.

 
Here is the fruit. The seeds are covered by the brown capsule.

 
Here is how the seeds looked like. They fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

 
And the seeds, when they are out. According to WF, they are dispersed by water.

 
I also managed to get some satisfying flower shots with my recently-repaired G11 and macro lens. This is the male flower of Buta-Buta (Excoecaria agallocha).

This it is the female cone of Casuarina equisetifolia.

 
This is the male cone~