Passiflora laurifolia - Passion flower

It was the only flower dangling on the vine, almost hidden from view by the leaves. It looked wilted but still captivating. I never thought that I would see this flower again in Kent Ridge Park and was glad to find this creeping plant alive and well.

Flower in the evening light - Petrea volubilis

This climbing plant originates in Tropical America and is also known as Purple Wreath. It belongs to the Verbenaceae family.

Strophanthus gratus - Climbing Oleander

It is always a delight to come across the fresh blooms of this medicinal shrub especially after a morning shower. I photographed these flowers in the Singapore Botanic Gardens

After the rain...

...and when the sun shone.

Common Name: Climbing Oleander, Cream Fruit
Family: Apocynaceae

Origin: Tropical West Africa

Fascinating flowers

For a very long time, I have not come across a flower that I have not seen before. Today I saw not one but two types of flowers that fascinated me no end. Here they are:

Argyreia nervosa

Elephant Creeper

Family:Convolvulaceae

Calotropis gigantea

Crown Flower, Giant Milkweed, Ivory Plant

Origin: India, Indonesia

Wolfe's Vine - Petraeovitex wolfei

This climber in the Singapore Botanic Gardens (SBG) is dripping flowers. I have photographed these flowers a few times but only found out the name of this plant from one of the 2005 SBG's newsletter.

Family: Verbenaceae

New year blooms at home

Like Cherry Blossoms that faithfully grace the Spring season in Japan every year, my bougainvilla plant is likewise treating us to a feast for the eyes this Chinese New Year as it did last year. I should seriously consider inviting friends back to have a bougainvilla viewing session one of these days. Beer instead of sake and new year goodies like pineapple tarts, bak kwa and mandarin oranges - that will be fun.

Garlic Vine

A garlanded fence in the neighbourhood. How can one see and not look? On this particular day, I stopped my car in the middle of the road after ensuring that there were no cars behind mine to take a picture of the floral display that only nature could produce.

Quisqualis indica

Family: Combretaceae

Common Name: Rangoon Creeper

Origin: Burma

Found this plant growing in a pot in front of a wine bar in Ann Siang Hill. It is a climber with fragrant flowers that appear in clusters that hand down. It is interesting that the flowers undergo changes in colour as time passes from white to pink and finally to dark red. If you have a patio or a balcony, it would be nice to grow this vine.

Passiflora laurifolia

Passiflora laurifolia, Water Lemon
Origin:South America

Two books I referred to gave two different names to this flower. One was passiflora edulis and the other was passiflora laurifolia. Some years back, I came across this climber in Kentridge park and since then I have not seen this plant again anywhere. The plant in Kentridge has disappeared along with the park upgrading plans and I am glad to have witnessed this particular bloom. Coming back to the name, I used my favourite search engine http://www.vivisimo.com/ and keyed in both names. The sites and information that were thrown up were simply amazing. From what I have seen of the photos and information, I have concluded that the photo on the left is that of the laurifolia and not the edulis.

Hoya Carnosa

Hoya Carnosa

Came across this lovely bunch of 'wax flowers'. Searched my books for the name and even the internet. Found this nice site on Hoya flowers: http://www.succulent-plant.com/hoya2.html#fhoya I am not a hundred percent sure if I have got the botanical name correct but it is as close as I can get after scrutinizing the photos on the web.