Acer on Cedar

While on a canopy walk, I came across this curious fruit which happens to be from an Acer species… it was resting so delicately on the very sizeable and handsome Cedar tree.

I am quoting part of the poem by Tagore… how nice the last sentence of this quote.. makes one feel so restful.

O profound,
Silent tree, by restraining valour
With patience, you revealed creative
Power in its peaceful form. Thus we come
To your shade to learn the art of peace,
To hear the word of silence; weighed down
With anxiety, we come to rest
In your tranquil blue-green shade….

In Praise of Trees (Brikhsa Bandana) -Rabindranath Tagore. 1926
(Translated by Dr. William Radice, 1985)

[Tagore wrote this poem in connection with the annual Tree-planting fesitval that he instituted at Shantinekatan. Tagore included this poem in the book “Bano Bani”which was dedicated to Tagore’s scientist friend Plant-Physiologist/physicist Sir JC Bose. This poem was quoted by the United Nations in their publications to highlight the importance of green earth. I thought it would be nice if MM includes this poem in their celebrations of Earth day on April 22, 2006. Regards. --Asim K. Duttaroy]

Bruguiera gymnorhiza

I am pretty awestruck by this mangrove tree. The contrast of the red calyx against the green of its leaves makes it photogenic. Thanks to the boardwalk at Sg Buloh, one can hold it in your hand and take a picture.

These are unopened.

These are opened

And this is the general habit of the tree. Habit meaning the form – whether its a tree, climber, shrub etc.

It looks festive.

I wonder what pollinates the flowers? Its definitely attractive. Didn’t smell it though. I wonder when it flowers in the year. Lots of questions…

More about this plant, the tumu, here

Cenchrus brownii

Before I forget again and have to hunt the web for the scientific name!

Its quite common along the beach forest and it was first recorded in Singapore in 1950. I browsed the www and realised that the plant is in some flickr sets in Singapore without the name (I commented on them).. so here’s the name so that the next time someone gets poked by it, at least can curse it properly.

Here’s a nice picture of it courtesy of Ria from wildsingapore

It belongs to the grass family and not the sedge family.

Cenchrus brownii!

As you can see, I am pretty invigorated by the fieldtrip I had this morning…

Leea

Leea’s born today. She’s named after the genus Leea which is found in South and Southeast Asia. It means delicate in Hebrew..

No where to root

Was at Changi beach a few days ago and decided to walk along the strandline, the line of sea debris, usually made of anything washed up the shore. Usually, this means dried fruits, rubbish, straw etc etc. Not surprisingly, I came across Cynometra ramiflora legumes again. This time there were four of them. I was thinking, great, they are pretty common, but where are they gonna take root? Very few back mangroves around now.

Also picked up other interesting stuff like the sea urchin, the fruit of a species of plant (Finlaysonis obovata) from the family Asclepiadaceae.

A rare nut

So, the other day we were at the East Coast Park beach playing with the sand when Josh picks up a “brain”, well a hard fruit the size of a lime that looks much like a brain. It took me a while before I did a double take and realised, my goodness, he had picked up a rare legume… the fruit of a member of the bean family.. That family of plants basically contains the peanut, soya beans, rain trees, in essence anything that has a pod, to be more accurate, a legume. the legume is a fruit that has 2 valves that will split along a line and reveal beans, which essentially are seeds. A pod is more layman and can be applied loosely to other fruits.

Anyway, what Josh had picked up was a rare native of Singapore called Cynometra ramiflora L. var. ramiflora, its an inhabitant of back mangroves, which basically means, somewhere behind the mangroves where the ground isn’t so muddy anymore and resembles more a a forest.

Why rare? When I revised the group for the Flora of Singapore, I listed it as “probably extinct”, following a previous status accorded to it by other botanists. After a few years, someone else spotted it along one of the offshore islands. So it was really great that Josh simply picked up the legume from the strand line along the east coast park beach.

Here’s Josh presenting the rare legume. He had inadvertently picked it up and brought it to the at first unappreciative local authority on the Caesalpinioid legumes of Singapore.

This is Matt contemplating the size of the fruit. Its hard and corky so definitely buoyant. I am not sure where it came from though but at least it is here.

I looked around the strand line for more of the fruit and found another. How serendipitous.

Here’s my botanical illustration of the species.