Celosia Spicata

I find this a most unusual flower that is not commonly seen in Singapore. Prior to my encounter with this particular flowering shrub, I have only seen it twice - outside people's houses. This time I saw it next to a row of shophouses in Upper Thompson road. Initially I had thought that I was looking at just one flower but actually each 'wheat head' is composed of many tiny flowers. My search on the internet revealed that these flowers are lasting even in the cut-and-dried form and are used for flower arrangements. I was so excited to have stumbled upon these fascinating flowers that I forgot about the burning sun and did not even notice at that time that the plant was in dire need of water.
Reference: 500 Popular Tropical Plants published by Periplus Editions (HK) Limited (1999)

Barringtonia edulis?

I have seen flowers and fruits on three different trees of this specie and have photographed them but I cannot recall with precision which tree I took these pictures from. A check with my reference book "1001 Garden Plants in Singapore" published by the National Parks Board shows that it could be one of three: Barringtonia calyptrata, Barrington edulis and Barringtonia racemosa. A search on the internet came up with sites that regard the fruit of the Barringtonia edulis as a rare fruit. I am not sure and would appreciate expert advice so that I can label the photos correctly.

This flower reminds me of a song by Carly Simon that

has this nursery rhyme:

Incy Wincy Spider

climbed up the water spout

down came the rain

and washed the spider out

out came the sunshine

that dried up all the rain

and the incy wincy spider

climbed out the spout again.

Frangipani flower

I came across a few frangipani trees in West Coast Park and for the first time I saw the seed pods of this tree. It was quite a revelation as I have never seen pictures of these seed pods, let alone the real thing, and therefore it had never occured to me that the tree was capable of anything other than flowering.

Erythrina Sp - Coral Tree

Family: Leguminosae

Origin: Various species, some from N & S America, Australia, Africa, East Asia

These trees are found in most of our parks and I have taken pictures of their flowers in West Coast Park and Sembawang Park. Some species are called 'Tiger' claws". Today I saw a whole row of flowering trees on the fringe of a carpark:

http://flowersinsingapore.com/Albums/CoralTree/index.html

Taking a break

Dracaena Sanderiana - an unusual flower

Common name: ribbon plant, lucky bamboo

Origin: Africa

I've always known this plant as the Kwan Yin bamboo. It can be grown in water and cuttings can be bought quite easily in the wet markets. I never thought that this plant was capable of flowering until a friend showed me this bloom from his garden. He gave it to me when the flowers were still buds and everyday I observed the development of this flower. The flowering lasted for quite a while with the buds in the outer rings flowering and when they wilted, another ring of buds will flower and so on. I remember that my living room was filled with a pleasant fragrance everytime there were new flowers.

Cayota mitis - Fish Tail Palm

The fishtail palm is so called because of the shape of the leaves. This palm can potentially reach a height of 30 feet and having seen it in parks and nature reserves, under flyovers, in gardens and the sides of roads, I have come to know it as if it were an old friend each time I set eyes on a palm.

Family: palmae (arecaceae)

Origin: Indonesia

I know what to look out for - the bunches of fruits and in particular the elusive flowers. For as long as I have been looking at this plant since the day I got my first digital camera some 4 years ago, I have only seen the flowers only once on a palm that was midway up Bukit Timah Hill. The palm is no longer there and has probably reached the end of its natural life. But I will never forget the flowers and this is the precious photo of the flowers that I never seem to have the good luck to see again.The closest I got to seeing it a second time was when I came upon a palm in a landscaped garden with these clusters of purplish buds and I was so thrilled thinking that if I were to return to see this palm the next day, I would probably get to see the flowers. It was indeed a great disappointment that when I made the effort the next day to see the flowers, I found that the buds have all dropped off, most likely due to a heavy shower. So again, all I have is this picture to show for what I have missed: Since then, I have only seen the tree in various stages of fruiting like the picture below taken at Telok Blangah Park. The lowest most bunch is most probably the buds.

I have learned one thing from being deprived of what I have been pursuing for a long time and that is to never give up especially when you have the will to do something or the wish to make a dream come true.

More photos on my website:

http://www.flowersinsingapore.com/palm5.htm

Angsana Trees losing their blooms

Over the last three days or so, the Angsana trees I came across had clusters of tiny yellow flowers peppering their crowns. Sadly I had no opportunity to photograph these trees as I was not able to stop by the roadside or the light was fading. At lunch yesterday, I parked my car in a carpark that had tall, mature Angsana trees and noticed that most of the tiny yellow flowers had fallen to the ground and were carpeting parts of the pavements with their petals. As I walked to the car after lunch, I could see that more petals were being brushed out by the gentle breeze and were descending on the cars like tiny snow flakes against the backlight of the afternoon sun. How beautiful it was to witness that scene. I did not have a camera with me but if I did I would have taken a picture that I could turn into a painting someday. Today, as I was passing by those graceful giants on my way home, I looked at the tops of these trees hoping to see some flowers but there were none. The Angsana trees have lost their blooms but what is loss if you know that flowering, though neverlasting, is nevertheless something that will be repeated for as long as there is life in the trees and zest for life in you. There is always another time.

Found a picture taken last time - May 2005.

Durio ziberthinus - Durian Tree

I pass by this huge durian tree every day and most part of the year it is just a large, leafy tree. But at least twice a year, the branches will sprout bunches and bunches of flowers and that would get everyone in the neighbourhood very excited in anticipation of the fruits.

I noticed the flowers on the tree about 3 days ago and that was when they were all in the flowering stage. Then time flew by and I did not get a chance to take a closer look until today. Most of the flowers have become small oval-shaped fruits and the flowers that remained were droopy and no longer looked in their prime.

Nevertheless, it was better to have captured this photo and several others for in a few weeks, the fruits will drop one by one leaving only clusters of two or tree spiky durians hanging on till they ripen. We were told that ripe durians do not fall to the ground in the day time so as not to cause injury to people under it, assuming that no one ventures out in the night to sit under its expansive crown. Anyway, the durians grow to a good size every time but they mysteriously disappeared after that. Since this durian tree belongs to no one as it stands on government land I am sure that there are people who wait for a time like this when the tree attracts us with such abundance and then watch it for the next few weeks to decide when they could go and enjoy the fruits of its labour.

Cassia alata - Seven Golden Candlesticks

As I post this entry, I am watching a movie on Star Movies called "Being Julia", not from the beginning but at the tail end and the movie has ended with the rolling out of the credits to a beautiful rendition of "Smoke gets in your eyes". Apparently it is about a great British actress who had her share of bad patches through her stage career but eventually triumphed over adversities that came in the form of her own insecurities and a young, aspiring actress out to upstage her. The last bit of acting was simply superb and I just got distracted from writing about this flower. "All the world's a stage"(Who said that?) whether the actress is Julia or the seven candlesticks. Both live and grow, reach their peak, stay there as long as they can and move on leaving impressions and memories for others to emulate or admire.

Family: Caesalpiniaceae, Common name: Seven Golden Candlesticks, Gelenggang (Malay name), Origin: Tropical America

Attractive Flowers on a fence - Paederia foetida

This is the first time that I have seen these flowers and they look really pretty and dainty on the fence. I discovered later that the leaves give off an unpleasant smell when crushed, hence the very unattractive name of 'stinkwort'.

Family: Rubiaceae

Common name: Lesser Malayan Stinkwort