Guess I can’t help to quickly sort out my pictures and blog before sleeping. This post is the first of two parts of a walk which I attended with NSS, led by Dr Shawn Lum. This first post shows mainly some interesting but non-dipterocarp plants which we saw along the way.
This climber is a fig, Ficus villosa. My first time seeing it out in the forest, but I guess its distinctive habit and shape gave it away.
I found this interesting flower on the forest floor which Dr Shawn said belonged to the family Apocynaceae. Just did a search on my book on this family and its long, narrow calyx lobes helps to narrow it to the genus Strophanthus, probably Strophanthus caudatus, a critically endangered climber.
Isn’t this long spirally liana nice?
Dr Shawn told us that this peculiar rattan with spines on the leaflets is a new record in Singapore, and a resident rattan expert, AL is currently writing on it. Update: Plectocomiopsis geminiflora, watch out for this upcoming Nature in Singapore article about this new record.
This Rubiaceae is, as suggested by, Dr Shawn, a Hedyotis species. Will attempt to key this out another day. Please keep a lookout for updates here if you are interested. Update: Hedyotis congesta, now known as Oldenlandia cristata.
The young reddish fronds of a centipede fern, Blechnum species.
Somebody actually found the flowers of a native durian, Durio griffithii! The greyish back leaf also belongs to the durian.
VB picked this out and guessed it as a Heritiera species. Indeed, Dr Shawn confirmed it as Heritiera simplicifolia. It is related to the Dungun, Heritiera littorali, a mangrove tree that has a dorsal ‘fin’ on their fruits. Hence, they are also fondly known as the ‘ultramen’ fruits. Not sure whether this plant above has this character too~
During our walk back, VB and AN alerted us to the fruits of Garcinia griffithii. They are closely related to the mangosteen, Garcinia mangostana.
The branching of Garcinia species are pretty characteristic, with angular straight branches extending out from the trunk.
Okay, totally shag out now. Will blog about the diperocarps on the next post!
3 comments:
may i know what kind and type camera do you use?
I used a canon dslr 550D, standard lens. :)
Thank you for the interesting shots of trees in Singapore and Saigon. I love trees and particularly the urban planting of trees, especially as they do so enhance the 'concrete' jungles so many of us now live in.
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