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.

Durian Flowers

Durio Ziberthinus (Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand)

The durian fruit is world famous as a love-it-or-hate-it fruit. Much loved by us in Singapore and Malaysia but visitors from foreign lands have been disgusted by this fruit. When you love it, you will find that it is really the king of fruits. No two durians taste the same and there are several varieties that yield heavenly tastes ranging from sweet to bitter and sensory delights in between the two. The flesh is creamy and delicious and durian fans go to great lengths to obtain the best specie like the D24 and of course pay for the name as well.

Durians come to us in lorry loads from Malaysia and when it is durian season, markets are livelier with hawkers giving commentaries, discounts, assurances, guarantees etc that the fruit they are selling is the best. I am fortunate to have a huge durian tree (not in my backyard, no not that lucky) near my house that was grown by people living in a kampong that used to be there. Actually there were two trees but one was chopped down. We are always excited when we see fruits on the trees about twice a year even though we never get to taste the fruit. It is said that the spiky fruits fall to the ground when ripe but only at night. Anyway, there are lots of other more adventurous people around who would trample through thick shrubs to reach the trees and the fruits.

The most exciting time was when I actually saw flowers - bunches and bunches of them with some already forming small fruit. I got my camera that was only a 2-megapixel Olympus at that time and snapped away. Pity that the pictures are not really sharp. Nevertheless, I think there are very few people who really know what durian flowers look like so here they are.