lekowala!

Baccaurea motleyana
Originally uploaded by lekowala.

Baccaurea motleyana, Euphorbiaceae. The rambai certainly epitomises the kampung feel of Pulau ubin. It is related to the duku langsat and tastes like it, except that it is sourish. My mum used to buy this from the market but now there are only apples and pears with the occasional regional fruits like the mangosteen or durian. Conserve our fruit heritage.

Xylocarpus granatum
Originally uploaded by lekowala.

Thanks to rusty botanical knowledge, I couldn’t tell which Xylocarpus species this was. Thankfully, someone in the group had the “Guide to the mangroves of Singapore I”.
me:” eh, which xylocarpus is this; I know got two.”
hk:” according to the guidebook Xylocarpus granatum has yellowish or greenish, smooth and flaking bark (vs. dark grey, non-flaking fissured bark in X. moluccensis).”
me: “okay, easy peasy.”

mangrove
Originally uploaded by lekowala.

The picture says it all. As I turned back to see how my companions were doing, all my botanical instincts went on high alert and I felt myself leap out of my skin. The mozzies were a welcome menace and the mud was spa-treatment. Yes, I have been deprived. I am an unabashed botanist.

Ximenia americana
Originally uploaded by lekowala.

A stand of Ximenes along Semakau. Ladybug mentioned that she remembered eating the sourish fruit, an orange olive-shaped drupe, as a child. She recognised it instantly when she chanced a fruiting individual. The hedge of the beach forest dominated by this species was nostalgic of island surveys I helped carry out several years back. In the hot sun and albedo, the juicy and sourish drupes were refreshing. This was pure and unadulterated beach forest.