Hort Log

A sample of terrestrial Borneo Gesneriads

2012-01-29T00:12:00.002+08:00

A mix bag of the ground herbs from the African Violet Family encountered during a couple of trips in Sarawak..... posting here in the hope of getting them identified.

This smallish herb with Henckelia-like habit appeared to be from genus Hexatheca, maybe H. fulva. It was found on shady ledges at the bottom of a limestone hill in West Sarawak.

Found on the same limestone hill as the previous species but on highly exposed high grounds subjected to dry winds and direct sun is this Paraboea with silvery felty leaves. It reminds me of Sinningia leucotricha commonly found in gesneriad collections and utilised the same strategy to reflect sun rays and heat from the leaf surface.

Borneo is very rich in Cyrtandra species and this is one of them - but exactly what species I do not know. The leaves are glabrous and quite succulent. It is also confined to limestone.

This last species is probably most horticulturally interesting, with its shiny variegated leaves - and tidy size (less than one foot tall). I had initially thought it was some kind of Scorpion's tail (genus Pentaphragma) but closer inspection showed Cyrtandra-like bloom between the leaves. Unfortunately the habitat which I had found it had been destroyed and had not seen it anywhere else. Unlike the other species, it inhabits sandstone embarkments by the side of the forest.

If readers can ID any of the plants please share it here.

Cheers.

Some bulbous Aroids in limestone areas of S Thailand

2012-01-21T08:23:00.000+08:00

The countryside of Southern Thailand is peppered with limestone karsts like these. These fast draining and seasonal (wet/dry) habitat harbours many bulbous plants, especially aroids, many of which are dormant some time of the year.

This is a Typhonium, a smallish herb frequently used in traditional medicine. This species has very small pointy inflorescence at the bottom left of the picture.

A Pseudodrancontium growing on pockets of humus at the base of the hill.

It has been subsumed into genus Amorphophallus but the vegetative appearance is quite distinct.
As it was the rainy season, Amorphophallus excentricus were flowering in many places. This couple was beside a stream, by the side of a tall mountain.

This one was found at the foot of the limestone hill.

....and this one at the side of a cliff.

Carrion beetles at the spadix.

An unidentified Amorphophallus at the foot of the limestone hill.

This looked like a Amorphophallus haematospadix growing at the same place as the previous species.

According to Peter Boyce, this drab looking plant is a yet to be named Alocasia. It had been known from Surat Thani for some time but was not name since the flowers had never been observed. I have also seen them in Nakhon Si Thammarat and Krabi.

Nepenthes robcantleyi - yet another species nova

2012-01-13T06:02:00.000+08:00

The past 2-3 years have seen a surge in discoveries of new Nepenthes species in this region, particularly in the highlands of Phillippines, which is turning out to be a bubbling hot spot. Examples include N. gantungensis, N. hamiguitanensis, N. leonardoi and N. palawanensis and N. attenboroughii previously mentioned here.

The newest addition to the list is Nepenthes robcantleyi , which incidentally was known in the trade for some time and in fact was already rather famous prior to its formal describtion, being featured in horticulture shows like that in Chelsea and Singapore - albeit as "Black truncata".

2 forms were on display during the recent show here, a red form ....

...... and a darker form, which was how the name "Black truncata" came about.

It was previously believed to be a highland form of the N. truncata (shown below), differing in the wider peristome (the wings at the rim of the pitchers). However, the paper also stated several differences .... if you are keen take a look at François 's interesting entry.

This new species was confined to a mountain in Mindanao, and is feared extinct in the wild as its habitat had been destroyed - such a scenario is so prevalent its a cliche to mention it nowadays.

Its closest relative is Nepenthes veitchii shown below, a more wide-ranging species from Borneo, although the pitchers are much smaller. Too close if you ask me.

Ref: Nepenthes robcantleyi sp. nov. (Nepenthaceae) from Mindanao, Philippines, Nordic J. Bot. 29: 2 (1-5; fig.). 2011

Early bloomer

2012-01-07T00:02:00.016+08:00

First bloom for the new year, and a haiku to celebrate it .....

willowy silhouette, you
remind me of a Cephalopod
smells like one too

Its true, this big flower really smelled bad - if you stick your nose too close tears will ooze from your eyes. It also has the largest flower in the genus.
Here's a full frontal....
Bulbophyllum echinolabium, a native of lower montane forests of Sulawesi.

Note: discovered Picassa had been excessively compressing my pics for some time now, just found a fix for it.

A fallowed ground

2011-12-30T23:59:00.017+08:00

.... time to send off another year of the usual economic crisis, natural disasters and East Asian assets bubble, sprinkled with a little nuclear scare. Some may point out bits of notable bright sparks, namely - the obliteration of some seriously undesirable characters, crumbling of tyrannical regimes, scientific break-throughs and revitilisation of Liverpool Football Club.

Anyway, it had not been my most productive period and I am glad to see the back of it. Now, if I can only find the "Reset" button ....

Winter in highland terraced rice field of Lao Cai, Northern Vietnam, where duration of rice growing season is roughly half of that in the lowland due to the cold climate.

Male bloom of Balanophora fungosa ssp. indica

2011-12-11T23:12:00.000+08:00

Balanophora is an interesting but obscure genus of flowering plants consisiting of no more than 20 species of root parasites distributed in the tropical old world. This particular species is widespread from SE India to SE Asia and Australia and may in fact be more commonly reported if not for the fact that it is not visible unless in flower. Its vegetative part consist of subterranean tubers with hausterias attaching to its hosts from which it derived its nourishment. Unlike Rafflesias, it is not very picky with hosts - large lianas and trees from Fabaceae (Pea family), Figs, Ilex (Holly), Cissus (from grape family) and Syzygium (Myrtle family) are known targets.

This plant has 2 subspecies, ssp. fungosa has male and female flowers on the same inflorescence while the one pictured here, ssp. indica, bears only flower of either sex but not both.

The confounding thing about botany terminology is that it then goes to classify the unisex plant as "dioecious" while the plant with both sexes is "monoecious". Hmmmm...

Ssssnuggled at the comfort zone ....

2011-12-03T09:36:00.003+08:00

....coiled below a tree trunk, the nocturnal Trimeresurus venustus barely blinked as it allowed its image to be frozen amongst multitude of flashes. This small pit viper is endemic to Southern Thailand and closely resembled the Trimeresurus kanburiensis, the Kanburi pit viper.
...... chanced upon this critter during a climb up a vertical limestone cliff in Nakhon Si Thammarat. Throwing caution to the wind, we fired indiscrimately ....

Looking out....

2011-11-30T18:24:00.001+08:00

.... it is a bigger world out there. Perhaps its time to leave the comfort zone .....

Garden-By-The-Bay

2011-11-27T01:08:00.001+08:00

My cameras ran out of batteries as I left the orchid show, leaving me with just my handphone to make a snapshot inside one of the 2 chilled Flower Domes at the Garden-By-The-Bay project. It turned out quite decent, showing the giant ferris wheel and skyscrapers at the backdrop.
Out at the garden, I rubbed my eyes and looked twice to confirm that one of the super trees was indeed laden with Tillandsia xerographical. I do hope this form is more tolerant of the monsoon here ....
This is the zoom-out view of the project, evidently still a work-in-progress but there's enough stuff to visualise the fab-out product.

A walk through WOC 2011

2011-11-23T14:07:00.002+08:00

With dark clouds looming overhead, the iconic venue for the World Orchid Conference looked rather menacing as we made quick strides towards it. Not a moment too soon, rain started pelting us as we reached the lobby ....

a few days ago, the hallway to the entrance was deserted ….
today, not so ....

We were first greeted by the award winning display from Papua New Guinea ..... the Sepik mask had a crocodile tongue, beside it was another mask with a flying fox looking like a vodoo doll .... ahem excuse me is any for sale ?
Another one from PNG, with a birds-of paradies and another intricate mask with bird motiff....
.... crowds jostled to take photos, inevitably leading to some not-so-nice exchanges beside me .... time to move on.....

Indonesia's display, modelled after a Tana Toraja cliff burial site ....
...this one from Australian Orchid Council ....
Sabah's display - a ferret-badger with Liparis, Malaxis and other ground orchids. I actually liked this quite a bit as it showcased many obscure local species.
Paphs are omni-present in shows like this, this is the ever popular P. spicerianum that sadly will not do well in lowland tropics .....
and here's hybrid from the Dark Side .....
at the floral window section, this one caught my eye with backdrop of variegated leaves (Pandanus ?) and its apparent new hybrid fern .....
alas....they were stapled together.
.... another floral window.
Yes its an orchid show but it did not stop Borneo Exotics from putting a fine display of Nepenthes that almost stole the limelight. Some would say they did ....
I would have dwelled a little more at the displays but crowds were gathering. The frequency of unwelcomed human torsos inserting between the lens and the exhibits rose with every release of the shuttle.

Eventually I retreated to the vendor section for some retail therapy ....

World Orchid Conference 2011 - Singapore

2011-11-08T00:08:00.004+08:00

After more than 4 decades, the World Orchid Conference is back in Singapore once more. The round-robin show had been held every 3 years since 1954 and the last time Singapore hosted this event was in October 1963. What's more, this time we get a sneak preview of the Garden-by-the-bay, a project which will costs a few hundred million S$ upon completion. As usual, Government booths will be set up to hand out export certificates on-the-spot if you so wish to bring plants out of the island.

So despite the fact that the venue is connected to the glitzy gambling den, I went ahead and ordered tickets for it.

And if you had yet to plan your vacations, do come - but visit the show first before hopping to the casino , I bet you will find it more enjoyable that way ....

When : 13 – 20 November 2011
Where: Sands Expo and Convention Centre

20th WOC

Sierra Nevada detour

2011-11-03T01:08:00.001+08:00

A detour from my usual babble on the SE Asian scene, we took this roadtrip after finishing business in the US West Coast.

Burning the wheels down the uneventful highway out of Vegas in the early morning, the landscape became decidedly more interesting once I swirled west into a country road which twirled between and around arid hills dotted with Yuccas and brown scrubs.

I only managed to find the turn-off to White Mountains after a couple of attempts (cursed GPS). My reason for being here was to see this old timer – the eastern bristle cone pine Pinus longaeva – the oldest living organism in the world. A specimen here was said to be more than 4800 years old but we would not be told where it grew.

To be frank there were more than 1 species of pine tree here, and they all looked similar to me. However, as one climbed towards the treeline, the concentration of the real McCoy became much denser.
Supposedly, there were slivers of living tissue sandwiched between those gnarled lifeless trunks, but then again, some may have been killed by lightning – hard to tell really, especially when they have so little leaves.
We pushed north under a wide sky glowing amber to spend the night at Lee Vining.
Before the first ray of sun, we bolted out of the door to soak in the lunar ambience of Mono Lake and its ancient tufa towers. These calcium deposit were only visible after the lake was partially drained to irrigate orchards and now the local conservationists had stepped in to stop the waterline from dropping further.
I kept my fingers crossed at Lee Vining – sometimes Tioga Pass, our planned entry route to Yosemite, would be closed due to snow in October. This time luck was on our side. This was the view of the mountain range we would be traversing …..
Patchy fall colours were were starting to show as we entered Tioga pass, which ascended up to 3000m at the western Sierra Nevada before dipping towards the valley.....
....leading us right into the glacial-carved panoramas of Yosemite National Park.

At Olmstead Point, I took a vested interest in a strangely shaped pine, and hoped it would be a hundred times smaller so it could fit into my bonsai pot …..

Signing off .....

Mr Macfarlane's exquisite WC

2011-10-22T10:10:00.001+08:00

Amongst tall grasses away from prying eyes, these would be my inspiration for truly luxurious WCs, if I am ever asked to submit a prototype.
Nepenthes macfarlanei is named after a Scottish botanist, John Muirhead Macfarlane, who authored one of the earliest monograph of this genus in 1908. Since his original description of 51 species way back then, the list of known species of tropical pitcher plants has roughly been doubled.
The species is endemic to highlands of Peninsula Malaysia and is still relatively common. The lower pitcher is urn shaped, with its pointy end anchoring it securely in the moss or soft substrate. Literature suggests it could be as tall as 30cm. So far the few specimens encountered in this recce were sitting at the ledge of precipituous drops, I presumed the reason was that the more accessible specimens had been collected by admirers.

The underside of the lid of this species has white hairs - which is unique amongst the Malaysian species. The glands secret a nectar which attract ants. Inevitably, some will drop into the pitcher.

In one of the pitchers, I found a white grub doing a back stroke.
I am not really sure if its a resident or an ingredient of the deadly broth - but the leisurely flapping of its behind seemed to suggest it was neither in pain nor danger.

Hairy orchid

2011-10-15T23:53:00.002+08:00

Furry bloom of Bulbophyllum lindleyanum - a smallish orchid found from India all the way to Indochina. I do not grow this as I believe its one of those plants best suited to a cooler climate although I was told with tender loving care, some specimens many still flower in the sweltering lowland.

Madangia (Hoya) inflata

2011-10-07T17:23:00.002+08:00

First described by PI Forster and the late Mr Liddle in 1997, this plant was initially placed as a monotypic genus based on the fused corolla and fused outer corona as shown in pictures above. The genus Madangia is subsumed within Hoya now, I am retaining this in the title merely for nostalgia.

The line drawing from the original publication is reproduced as follows. The venation of the dark green leaf as well as the thin black stem is rather characteristic as well.
So far it has only been found in the Madang Province of New Guinea. After numerous attempts to establish this plant, I eventually have a flowering vine this year - so its certainly not one of those robust vines that had run amok at the plot.

Like most tropical Hoyas, a high humidity (above 80%) and a wooden trellis or pole to climb and root is important for success. Some Hoya growers coil their vines around the metal wires of the hanging pots - which will not optimise root growth. Peduncle and flowers appeared at about 30-40% shade so it does not seem to need a lot of light.

Begonia foxworthyi

2011-09-30T23:57:00.000+08:00

I found this rather plain looking plant clinging on steep limestone faces at Pahang, Peninsula Malaysia. The male flowers have 2 white tepals while the female flowers have pinkish placenta. The closest match I can think of is Begonia foxworthyi.
Unlike many Begonias, the variation in leaf appearance for this plant is minimal - I have yet to see a variegated form, even on young plants, which would be more horticulturally pleasing.

Begonia foxworthyi is an endemic species found in central to North-eastern part of Peninsula Malaysia. It is not a well known plant due to its plain apperance and finicky habit. It is said to be found on limestone as well as granite slopes.

A walk in the rain

2011-09-25T00:18:00.002+08:00

Fed by the heavy downpour, the gentle little stream running down the mountain had turned into a raging beast. I watched in amazement as this small frog made a suicidal dive into the furious brown depth with a trailing cry of Goodbye cruel world . Pelted by rain and deafened by the roaring torrent, I was an alien in this dark world of snaking roots ....
and angry waters ....
and pervasive wetness ....
.... fern-like orchids Podochilus microphyllus and an Appendicula draped the trunks
and boulders....
....the rather uncommon Hoya coriacea dangled from a tree ....

....the torch of a forest ginger, probably Globba patens, lit up the rocky bank....

....out of the blue, a black giant squirrel (Ratufa bicolor) bolted from the canopy, followed soon after by its cream coloured cousin Ratufa affinis scrambling up the tree.
Taken by surprise, I only managed some blury shots. These are amongst the largest squirrels in the world - and to see them side by side in the wild really made my day - even if it was a wet, gloomy one.

.... by the way, the suicidal amphibian is a torrent frog, Amolops larutensis - which as its name suggests, relishes opportunities like this.

Seeking SWF

2011-09-22T18:38:00.003+08:00

I had a rendevous with lunch, she was a single white free-meal ....
....burrrrp......

Spelaeanthus chinii

2011-09-14T00:14:00.000+08:00

This is the only species in the genus - found on limestone slopes in peninsula Malaysia. It appears to have a rather limited distribution and hence vulnerble to any habitat disturbances. It has filmsy hairy leaves and has white widely opening flowers borned on a branched panicle.
I found this plant perched on a damp dark limestone wall in Pahang. This appears to be too dark for most competing plants.

Not far from it is a carpet of the curious giant one-leaf Gesneriad, Monophyllea horsfieldii.

Water banana

2011-09-12T23:22:00.000+08:00

Typhonodorum lindleyanum, sometimes known as a water banana, growing on a water lily pond at Singapore Botanical Garden.

Lunch break

2011-09-11T01:01:00.000+08:00

A rodent with slim oesophagus
feared choking on bits and pieces.
So he dined in reverse
Irregardness of manners
but fell and broke his incisors.

Slender squirrel Sundasciurus tenuis

Medinilla scortechinii (?)

2011-08-20T21:59:00.001+08:00

The largest specimen I have seen for this SE Asian native was actually grown in a botanical garden in Europe. It was a tall shrub smothered with inflorescence.
Most plants offered locally are grown in 12" pots with only 1 or 2 inflorescence and I have no idea they could be so spectacular. Its possible also they could be cooler grower and hence less vigorous in the lowland.

Like its relative Medinilla magnifica, the inflorescence are pendulous while the wild species in a previous post are errect. Another obvious difference is the leaf shape, and possibly the leaf venation of which I was unable to observe in detail due to inaccessability of the wild plants.

Addenda
As pointed out by Mr Luther which I later verified from a quick search, Medinilla scortechinii has orange inflorescence so this plant was obviously mislabelled in the garden. I do not have any keys to Medinilla identification, so I can only offer possible IDs - pendula and speciosa being two of them.
Cheers.

Alocasia sanderiana var nobilis

2011-08-15T00:22:00.002+08:00

I set eyes on my first Alocasia sanderiana var nobilis at a private gardener's collection more than 10 years ago. I thought I had been impressing the veteran with my incessant botanical mumbo jumbo until I saw the plant and dismissed it as plastic .... this was almost the "most humble day of my life" ....

This mother of all Alocasia x amazonica was first described by W. Bull in 1884 from specimens collected in The Phillippines. Some believed its white venations and dissected leaves may serve to enhance a "tattered" look and makes it less appealing to potential diners.

From a horticulture point of view, the wild plant is certainly more impressive and eye-catching than the hybrid - which makes you wonder why bother. However, its also more temperamental. Like many wild Alocasias, it has a worrying habit of going dormant...sometimes seemingly forever.

The wild plant is now very rare - in fact, it is officially critcally endangered, since its natural habitat is reduced to 2 lowland localities in Mindanao which are subjected to deforestation and human enroachment. Tissue cultured plants are available occasionally but they are definitely less common than its hybrid.

Long Live Liverwort !

2011-08-13T19:49:00.002+08:00

Hooray ! Hooray !
The BPL starts today
I will root for Liverpool
You can shoot a rioter or two
Hooray ! Hooray !

A series of pictures of this most primitive of plants ..... in fact probably the grand daddy of most land plants (excluding algae, which is not a true plant).

...beside a waterfall

.... at a highland mossy forest ....

....perhaps a millipede weed, Bazzania sp....

....cultivated on a rockscape in China ....

Gametophytes of Marchantia.

This marks the beginning of the English football season with a revamp team - YNWA !!

The hump back Dischidia

2011-08-08T20:28:00.003+08:00

Dischidia astephana is endemic to the highland of Malaysia. It belongs to a group of Dischidias with turtle shell leaves that attract ants below the surface, However, its bumpy leaf and the five-lobed scarlet flowers set it apart from all other similar species. The strange leaves even turn purplish under bright light !
While wandering in the highland, we noticed this tree with one fork showing the flaking bark typical of many species from the Myrte family (Myrtaceae), and the other smothered with this Dischidia .....
....which is kind of baffling since the flaking bark is supposed to rid the tree of epiphytes. Anyway, this species is documented to be found commonly found on Leptospermum and probably other myrtle-like plants. You can see that the leaves actually stack on top of each other - creating folds upon folds of hiding places for its insect friends.
.... I gave a few taps on the foliage with a stick and angry ants started oozing out from the crevices.
....the abdomens, which are shaped like black spades from poker cards, identified them as Crematogaster sp ....
Here's a closeup of the unique flower. While most Dischidias are rather drab, this species is very desirable horticulturally. If only it is more tolerable to the lowland heat .....

Stealth Bomber

2011-07-31T19:41:00.000+08:00

Bulbophyllum digoelense, one of those weird orchids from lowlands of Papua New Guinea. It is slow growing for me but the flowers from the different rachis keep coming.

Little apples

2011-07-29T19:19:00.003+08:00

....well, actually infructescence of Anthurium vittariifolium.

Highland Scrub habitat

2011-07-21T23:57:00.000+08:00

A walk at Ulu Kali, 1500m asl .....

Misty morning with slope of full of Medinillas

.... perhaps Medinilla speciosa but cannot really confirm

....the highland tree fern Cyathea contaminans

.... a fig tree with trunk covered by orange lichen....

.... the beard lichen Usnea sp

....Lichen colonies side by side ...

.... at the exposed ridge, an unknown creeper

....flowering Oberonia ancepes, a common orchid with interesting foliage

.... flowers of the bamboo orchid here are almost double the size of those in lowland

a stand of terrestrial Bamboo orchid Arudina graminifolia at disturbed open ground with resam

....another ground orchid - the bright yellow Spathoglottis aurea only grows in the highland. At the lowland, it is replaced by lilac coloured S. plicata.

....this plant is very ornamental with nice widely opening flowers.

Evil Weevil

2011-07-19T01:02:00.001+08:00

The kids were jumping in excitement with the arrival of this uninvited guest. It was an Asian palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (syn Rhynchophorus vulneratus) - a destructive pest much hated by the palm growers, as its large grub, up to 10cm long, are known to munch tunnels through soft tissue of its hosts, often causing irreversible damage by the time its presence was apparent.

It was not a looker but we were mesmerised watching the 2 twirling antennae each with its pulsating satellite dish at the tip.

Fortunately for the critter, I do not have palms at home, otherwise it would be beetlejuice.

Showing off ....

2011-07-16T18:33:00.000+08:00

Showing off my Anthurium veitchii acquired as a small 15cm long plant 9 years ago. This is supposedly a cool grower but decided to settle down here in the lowland.

Reticulated Bulbophyllum

2011-07-11T22:00:00.000+08:00

While coming down from a limestone hill in Sarawak, we stumbled on an interesting orchid on the dryish forest floor .....

This orchid has a very distinctive network marks on the leaves and not surprising, is known by its latin name Bulbophyllum reticulatum.

I have a very free-flowering specimen growing on a fern bark for many years but never once had I suspect it could actually be a ground dweller.
The cluster of flowers somehow remind me of a nestling of small birds - the hinged lips are highly mobile and will rock to and fro with slightest movement.

An Epithemia

2011-07-08T20:50:00.000+08:00

An ephemeral Epithemia that would set seed and die off suddenly - this one has been growing wild at my plot for years now - originally probably coming from seed heads from a limestone hill in Pahang.

Red traps of Nepenthes sanguinea

2011-07-03T08:10:00.001+08:00

A couple of sanguine beauties were sun tanning in the highland of Ulu Kali....

...attracted by their beauty and sweet nectar, daring pleasure seekers on high walk on the threshold of death ....

....unbeknownst to them, a couple of skinny dippers lying motionless at the bottom of the chalice had already paid their dues ....
Nepenthes sanguinea is a highland carnivore confined to Peninsula Malaysia and Thailand. Although reputed to be common by Charles Clarke, the intense colouration and large size (about 30cm tall) of the specimens still managed to capture our undivided attention. This species has extrafloral nectaries on the pitchers, which explain the accumulation of ants at the peristome. In some Nepenthes species, the nectar contained a substance that disorientate the ants which are observed to dance round and round the peristome. I tried to close in to see what the ants were feeding on and it appears to be either the sticky film or those white powdery stuff on the peristome. Surprisingly in our encounter, no ants were found inside the pitchers yet....just a fly and a harvestman.

Dipteris conjugata

2011-06-24T20:42:00.000+08:00

This horticulturally interesting fern is found in many places in East Asia, mostly in lower montane areas but has also been recorded in coastal areas in the lowlands, including Singapore. Botanists believe it is a very primitive fern - maybe even a living fossil, so one can imagine a vegetarian dinosaur munching on it during the Mesosiac period.

I found stands of this plant growing on open slopes in Fraser's Hill. These plants need open space with much light in order to thrive. Their demise in some parts of Singapore had been attibuted to crowding out by exotic weeds.
The palm-shaped fronds are large - about 50cm across ....

....and the venations give it a very interesting texture but so far I have not seen it in the horticulture trade. Is there anyone out there growing this ?

Bulbophyllum membranaceum

2011-06-20T06:16:00.000+08:00

A tiny, widespread but easily overlooked orchid that is still found in the shrinking primary forest of Singapore.

ROcky ROad

2011-06-18T14:37:00.003+08:00

It's a twisting, twirling rocky road to the top....
but lying down is hardly an alternative.

Many members of the Legume family from subfamily CAESALPINIACEAE are interesting lianas, sometimes with weird textured surfaces, like my previous entry here. During an ascent to Bukit Timah Hill, a particular Caesalpinia sumatrana captured my attention with its curiously knobby vine.

Myrmecodia tuberosa

2011-06-06T21:55:00.001+08:00

Out of the 600 genera from the Coffee family (Rubiaceae), there are more than 20 that are known to be Myrmecophytic - which means living in close association with ants. Typically the ants provide nutrients and protection in exchange for the abode. Some of the tuberous epiphytic myrmecophytes, pictured above from Huxley and Jebb's paper, are actually rather interesting horticutural subjects eg Anthorrhiza, Hydnophytum, Myrmecodia, Myrmephytum and Squamellaria. Other genera are less well known, like Myrmeconauclea, Nauclea and Milletia which are large shrubs, trees or vines.

Myrmecodia tuberosa is widely distributed throughout SE Asia and N. Australia. Unlike its close relative Hydnophytum, it is armed with spines which concentrate at its caudex. However, its most effective mode of protection is its tenant - the ants. Mind you these are certainly not the docile critters we are familiar with - they earn their keep ! It has been reported by Maschwitz et al that ants from genus Cladomyrma would linger more than an hour on the body of an unfortunate botanist to inflict painful bites that resulted in red itchy dots for days. Its means of protection is so effective that the even pollinators are deterred - its small tubular white flowers being self pollinating. The berries may be dispersed by the ants themselves but their bright orange colour also attract birds like flower peckers which can take them in mid flight.

Throughout its range, both Myrmecodia tuberosa and Hydnophytum formicarum are consumed by local communities for medical purposes. The water boiled with the whole plant is taken as tonic for liver, heart, digestive system as well as wide range of ailments like cancer, hepatitis and rheumatism. A person I acquainted with once visited New Guinea and brought back a few of these wondrous plants which I had no doubt to be a more exotic species. When I requested to purchase one from him, he was unyielding, claiming that it was needed to treat some undisclosed ailments.

I do not encounter this plant frequently in Peninsula Malaysia but in Sarawak, in the mangroves of Bako, kerangas of various regions and even trees beside a small stream, they occur in very large but concentrated numbers, usually with other ant-loving epiphytes.

A closer look at the entrances to ant chambers within the caudex. This particular form does not have the leaf shield called clypeoli.

Growing with a Pachycentria constricta, another myrmecophyte from Melastoma family, on the same branch.

Hanging over a small brown stream at a depleting forest.

This plant is best grown from seeds as transplanted adults plucked from the trees tend to fare poorly. It should be grown like a succulent and as you can see from the habitat photos, they do grow under the full scorching sun although partial shade would be better for smaller specimens. I found that they tended to succumb to rot more easily than Hydnophytum formicarum. A regular feeding of foliar fertiliser will ensure rapid progress and fruit formation.

Ref:

Huxley, C.R. & M.H.P. Jebb. 1991a. Blumea 36: 1- 20.

U. Maschwitz et al Malayan Nature Journal 1989 43: 106-115

A.F.S.L. Lok et al, Nature In Singapore 2009 2: 231–236

A flat and maroon ginger

2011-06-04T19:28:00.001+08:00

This palm-sized peacock ginger originated from Thailand - I have no idea what it could be. A website listed this as Kaempferia purpurata but I do not think it is a valid name. K. purpurea perhaps ?

Like most Kaempferias, it is seasonal and the 2 large palm-size leaves appear only for a few months of the year, during which the single white flower will protrude between them. The flower lasts only 1 day but will be replaced by new ones while in season. The bloom reminds me of K. rotunda but the leaves are totally different.

Please drop me a line if you have any idea what is the ID ; alternatively any literature of Kaempferia purpurea should help also.

Stripey lipsticks from Borneo

2011-05-25T21:43:00.000+08:00

I obtained this unique lipstick vine from Borneo a few years ago - a cutting from a friend. The short flower with stripped corolla coupled with the shallow dish shaped fused sepals is quite eye catching. It is reported to be common on palm plantations in Sarawak but I have only seen it once growing at a depleted forest. I did witness an impressive display of mass flowering at a private garden, where a dense carpet of this vine cover a trellis over a 3 metre square area sprouting multitudes of red dots along their lengths. There are 2 forms shown here, one with pink and the other with red sepal. Despite its uniqueness, I could only pin it down to be Aeschynanthus tricolor recently The reason is that there is another similar species from Borneo - Aeschynanthus hians. I found Anthony Lamb's article in GardenWise showing rather blurred photographs of both species but all it said was that the difference was in the calyx. I only understood what he meant when I eventually found this curious stripped flowered Aeschynanthus with larger flaring calyx. This would be the A. hians, which is a rarer species confined to northern Sarawak. From these pictures one can see the difference lie in the larger, widely serrated calyx - the flower is similarly stripped.

Hoya campanulata lookalikes part1

2011-03-12T23:11:00.000+08:00

Warning: This may be a bit dry for some people .....

There are 2 groups of Hoyas from SE Asia with white, waxy, bell-shaped flowers which has caused confusion amongst growers and taxonomists alike due to their apparent similarities and vendors applying errorneous tags without due diligence. The first is the Hoya campanulata group which appeared widespread in SE Asia and the second are from the wallichii complex which was collected mostly (maybe even exclusively) from Borneo.

Now let us examine the following 3 photos:

Vegetatively and in flower they look so different from other Hoyas and so similar to each other that one can almost be excused for thinking that they are one and the same. Even R.E. Rintz, who published an excellent early paper on Hoyas of Peninsula Malaysia, lumped them into a single species - Hoya campanulata.

Now, let's do some closeups of the corona ....

.... the top most plant has a rather fat and succulent corona (the star-shaped protrusion at the centre of the flower). It had been named Hoya wallichii for a very long time until it was recently deemed to be a separate species - H. danumensis, based on some subtle difference. This plant appeared to be confined to Borneo.

The lower 2 plants have slender corona and are collectively lumped under an umbrella called Hoya campanulata - although as I will show later, there appear to be more than 1 species there. This group has a wider distribution, from Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Java and Sumatra.

And here's a portrait of the real Hoya campanulata from Curtis Botanical Magazine, renown for accurate taxonomic depictions of many exotic plants collected all over the world during 1800s. The picture clearly shows the slender corona similar to the latter 2 plants here. It is taken from Simones' excellent web site.

So hopefully, we got these 2 rather different species sorted out.

I shall end this post by flashing another Borneo native that looked like a H. wallichii (or danumensis, take your pick) by virtue of the fat corona, and yet looked distinct in its smaller flatter corolla that curl backwards as shown below :

Any idea what is this ?

Hoya campanulata lookalikes part2

2011-03-12T23:05:00.001+08:00

In this follow up post I will focus on the Hoya campanulata complex. An in-situ photo of the plant is shown above; the vine scrambling on rocks, tree trunks and even on the ground of the forested banks of a jungle stream . Beyond twenty metres or so from the stream, it is nowhere to be found - hence one can deduce that it requires very high humidity.

From my conversation with taxonomists and growers, H. campanulata is quite variable in terms of the colour, size and curvature of the bloom. However, this is not in agreement with David Liddle, who had generously shared with me his knowledge until he unexpectedly passed away. Accordingly to him, there is a smaller form known as H. cysthiantha aff (for affiliate)and another form known as the true campanulata.

By the way, the suffix aff was appended because it was believed that the name Hoya cysthiantha was not validly published. However weeks ago Miss Christine Burton told me that Kew had accepted its validity after all.

As you can see from below, these 2 forms are quite different in terms of size, shape and even colour. The yellowish form at the lower picture is believed to be the real H. campanulata while the white one is believed to be H. cysthiantha aff.
Attached below is the closeup of the corona. The yellowish flower on the left clearly showed a more slender and curved corona.
I shall leave it to the taxonomists to argue over this subject - but for me, they are clearly distinct irregardless of their latin names.

For those who does not care much about all this mumbo jumbo, here are a couple of portraits of the attractive flowers. And did I say they smell like lemon too ?

Giant gesneriads

2011-03-09T23:11:00.000+08:00

For most gardeners, giant tree-like plant is not something associated with members of Gesneriad family. Out of the three thousand plus species in this large family, there are actually a quite a few giants that are very little known compared to their smaller cousins.

While scrambling up an open slope on a steep limestone hill in Sarawak, I came across this giant Paraboea - its a man's height even before blooming, its multiple branched inflorescence adding a further metre or so.

I reckon this is either a P. havilandii or the related P. treubii - both of which, according to literature, can be up to 2m high. The spiralling seed pod is characteristic of this genus - the pod builds up internal pressure and eventually implodes with a twisting action that catapult the seeds from mother plant. Note also the retention of dried leaves at the base, the function of which is a mystery.

There are many more examples of giant Gesneriads - like the Brazilian Paliavana , which I found from the excellent web site by Mauro. While visiting one of Europe's botanical gardens, I unexpectedly stumbled upon this striking Jamaican native, - Rhytidophyllum tomentosum, which I know nothing of except that its likely pollinated by bats.
The felty leaves remind me very much of the Henckelia back home but the stiff flowers are quite unique.

I do not think any of these large and drab plants will be popular to gardeners soon unless hybridisers manage to perform some miraculous makeovers. Still, they are interesting botanical curios for me ....

Gift from the fallen

2011-03-06T08:00:00.001+08:00

Years ago a fallen tree branch from the forest yielded a big rotting clump of orchid on the ground from which I made a cutting and nursed it back to health. Since its full recovery , the Coelogyne pandurata had been rewarding me with this bloom year after year.

This is a large orchid from SE Asia and is often called "Black Orchid" by some due to the fierce looking dark markings on its lips. Although some vendors tried to pull a fast one by touting it to be rare its is actually quite common in lowland forests although it may not always be free flowering.

Alocasia scalprum

2011-03-04T18:30:00.001+08:00

Peter Boyce and Alistair Hay officially described this plant in 1999 which has so far only been seen in cultivation with the nickname "Samar Lance". This is the dark form of the variable species known from the island of Samar in the Philippines. While cultivated plants are not uncommon, it is rare or may even be extinct in the wild - no body knows for sure because the island is a hot spot for political unrests and understandably nobody seems keen to survey there.

It differs from the closely related A. heterophylla by its dark coloured cardboard-like leaf blade and a very shallow sinus at the top of the leaf Its a small plant, with adult plant having blades no more than 20cm long. The plane of the leaf lies mostly horizontally which is also quite unlike A. heterophylla, which has errect greener leaves. After growing it for 8 years, I have yet to see it flower for me.

As with most Alocasias, this plant is rather temperamental but I seemed to have to have more success growing in on the ground.

How does Heaven look like ?

2011-03-01T16:37:00.009+08:00

....I hope its a good place to retire.

Atari Space Invader

2011-02-26T06:32:00.012+08:00

If there is ever going to be a cute spider, this has to be it. What does the pattern remind you of ?
Spiny spider (Gasteracantha)are known to use markings on their backs to attract prey.

The mystifying lip

2011-02-20T06:37:00.006+08:00

Found this small Phalaenopsis growing plentifully on trees just beside a stream which used to be clear but now has turned dirty brown due to construction and erosion upstream.
Not totally sure what species it is - Phalaenopsis lamelligera ? Perhaps pantherina...or even a spotted cornu-cervi. I decided to zoom in on the complicated lip to assist identification. In orchids, the lip is usually the landing pad for insect pollinators. I wonder what the 2 small hair-like appendages are for - tickle the pollinator ? And what about the erect structure with narrow via like the eye of a needle ? Quite baffling.

Hopefully, an expert can come along and throw some light on this.

Bulbophyllum membranifolium

2011-02-19T05:59:00.000+08:00

A native of SE Asia, this smallish orchid is tricky in the lowland as it prefers cooler temperature - which is a pity.

Blue Club Moss

2011-02-13T18:20:00.000+08:00

A couple of years ago Huperzia goebellii was the rage in collector's circle, with large specimens fetching several hundred USD in the west. I used to see big clumps of these on sale by natives along a jungle road, but I doubt they are still as common now . I was totally captivated by these bluish fronds, some of the truly awesome specimens have branches more than 2 metres long.

This club moss is native to the tropical jungle of Malaysia and Borneo, its northern distribution appeared to terminate before Thailand. Growing this plant can be a bit tricky. Being an epiphyte, it rots easily if its over watered so growing it in spagnum is a bit dicey. The plant was actually mounted on a small fern slab so I merely adhere this on a bigger slab. Despite all the care I took, my large mother plant recently rotted away - perhaps a victim of the La Nina wet spell, and I was left to pick up the pieces, literally, recloning it from bits of rooted cuttings.

Total control freak

2011-02-09T12:36:00.011+08:00

While trekking in northern Johore, we stopped by to examine a body by the side of the stream....

It belonged to the Giant Forest Ant (Camponotus gigas), one of the largest species of ant in the world, reaching close to 3cm.

Infected by an Ophiocordyceps fungus (O. unilateralis or similar) and banished from its nest, it was brainwashed to climb to a higher staging area and anchor itself by biting on the leaf blade of a lallang. Here, it was summarily executed - fruiting bodies punched through the exoskeleton like Howitzer-guns, ready to fire spores which eventually fall to the ground to infect passing victims.

Interestingly, in spite of the fact that the spores mostly make contact with the host on the ground, Camponotus leonardi, a tree dweller, was found to be the principal host in Thailand. I would have assume that this terrestrial giant forest ant would be a more suitable host.

Researchers had reported very surprising things about this fungus, like the fact that the it is very exact in its manoeuvre - dead ants invariabily face northwest, about 25 cm from the ground at sites with at least 90% humidity. Strangely, if the ant is allowed to die in its nest, the survival rate of the fungus is zero. Though it turns vital organs of the ant to mush, it also protects its turf by growing into the cracks and niches of the exoskeleton to prevent entry of microbes competing for its food and fortress.

Isn't it weird that a lowly organism can so brilliantly take over the body and psyche of such a complex (relatively speaking) animal ?

References :
D.P.Hughes et al, The Life of a Dead Ant: The Expression of an Adaptive Extended Phenotype. The American Naturalist, V173, no3 September 2009.

D.P.Hughes et al, Graveyards on the Move: The Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Dead Ophiocordyceps-Infected Ants PDF

Also search for the brilliant BBC footage with commentary by my fav Sir David Attenborough

Here's my previous post of this subject - which infected a fly in Singapore.

Another unknown Begonia

2011-01-29T23:30:00.001+08:00

Found this rather interesting herb at growing on large boulders about 10-50 metres from a mountain stream in Pahang, Peninsula Malaysia.

There appear to be 2, or 3 colour forms. The nicest is perhaps the very pale green one with red veins.
With its 2 tepals in the male flowers, it does not look like anything mentioned in Ruth Kiew's book "Begonias of Peninsula Malaysia". Any advice is much appreciated.

Horny

2011-01-27T10:28:00.001+08:00

I have seen these the Oriental Pied Hornbill Anthracoceros albirostris in the wild several times, but only manage to capture the image of this bird in Thailand with my new tele lens. Its hand held so its not perfect but its my first decent shot of this bird.

These iconic creatures actually make adoring pets. A friend once kept a bird that upon seeing me, would pressed its body next to the cage so that I can tickle it....and as I do so, scratching its chin, crest and down the back of the spine, it half closed its eyes and quivering, made a low grunting sound!

I nicknamed it Horny....corny I know but it stuck.

Alfred Wallace (if I remember correctly) noted seeing them picked fruits from their oversized beak and pop them into its owner's mouth .... I would have wanted to try that on Horny had I not known that the same beak was used to pick naked new-born mice, a special treat which it swallowed with an audible gulp.

One day while cleaning its cage, my friend inadvertently left the cage door opened and Horny was handled an option of either a good life with five-star massages or freedom. He chose the latter ..... and as if undecided, lingered near the vicinity for a few more days before disappearing altogether.

Good luck, Horny.

Zebra stripped

2011-01-11T23:11:00.007+08:00

I nearly fell off my chair when I saw specimens of the Heliconia zebrina being sold out at US$80 in a show in New York. It reminded me of a rather similar plant I had seen while wading in the small forest streams in Peninsula Malaysia 10 years ago. The impressive plants, up to about 2 metres tall, stood up amongst the uniformly green undergrowth in the cool shady banks due to their large stripped leaves. My first impression was that it was a garden escape - probably a type of Calathea from the New World ....except that we were at least 1 hour drive from the nearest village.

About a year later, I made another trip to the habitat but was dismayed that the forest had been cleared, for oil palm plantation, but that would be another story ....

About this plant.... the black bands in the Heliconia were broad and sunken while that in the local species were protruding and narrow. Calathea zebrina would be a closer match but that was a much smaller plant. And of course, both Calathea and Heliconia are not found in this part of the world. After a quick check with "Malaysian Wild flowers" by M. R.Henderson, I established that it was probably some type of Phrynium or Donax and did not go further. More years later. through another ginger enthusiast, I got the photos across to Dr Helen Kennedy who solved this mystery for me, identifying it as Phrynium villosulum Miquel. Of course by then I had the photos of the inflorescence as well, which consisted of white flowers extruding from a basal stumpy mushy bract and looked nothing like a Heliconia at all.

Actually I was not the first to notice the vegetative similarity - Rodigas made a painting of this plant with stripped leaves and described it as Heliconia triumphans in 1882 from collections in Sumatra.

Although not common in trade, this plant is quite widely distributed from Malaysia to Borneo and Sumatra. It appears to favour shady wet stream banks or muddy places.

Reference:
Notes on Malaysian Marantaceae and the Identity of Heliconia triumphans
Helen Kennedy
Kew Bulletin
Vol. 41, No. 3 (1986), pp. 725-731

Just go easy being green

2010-12-31T23:59:00.007+08:00

As they wave their flags and stake their claim, a true tree-hugger shy from the glare and fame.

....rediscovering the pleasure of knowing a friend, a single-minded environmentalist who had forgone much to go about his chosen path, whose low-key hands-on attitude in rescuing plants and critters from harms' way and whose motivation appears to be solely the welfare of those under his care rather than the limelight on him .... he is my motivation to be good for the new year.

Green Crested lizard, Bronchocela cristatella

Portrait of a stinko

2010-12-27T21:22:00.009+08:00

First described by Lindley in 1855, Bulbophyllum lasianthum is a large orchid from Malaysia, Borneo and Sumatra with long stiff purplish leaves up to 50cm long. Like many fly pollinated plants, especially Typhonium and Amorphophallus, this orchid adopt a similar strategy to draw pollinators - the flowers look and smell like hairy rotting carcasses.

In the lowland, the flowers open partially and only for a short period, about 2 days or so ; I had misjudged the timing on several occasions before I finally manage to capture this fresh bloom. Arriving before the flies did, I was incessantly bombarded by waves after waves of olfactory tsunamis as I worked on the closeups.
I had only seen it in the wild once, scrambling around wet rocks beside a stream in the lowland, occasionally curling around larger tree trunks but did not appear to climb too high. Although not a rare plant, it is not very commonly encountered.

There's nothing much going for it - unwieldy size, untidy habits, partially opening hairy flowers and repelling odour - so its not very commonly cultivated by orchid growers, except those who have a fetish for the obnoxious .... yes, my kind ....
Wishing all a joyous, glorious, odorous New Year !

Uvaria grandiflora

2010-12-20T22:28:00.000+08:00

This large woody vine was found flowering at the Bukit Timah Hill area. The flower reminded me of a red sunflower and I was quite awed by its size too...about 6 cm in diameter. It has a rather wide occurence from south China to most of SE Asian rain forest. Throughout its range, it is used medicinally, as in many members of this family which has many unusual alkaloids which are known to be psycho-active.

Unknown Gesneriad

2010-12-18T08:02:00.003+08:00

Found this stunning Gesneriad growing on a sandstone mountain slope in southern Sarawak.

I have absolutely no idea what it is - if I have to make a guess it would be a Henckelia.... suggestions much welcome.

Woman in chains

2010-12-16T00:08:00.003+08:00

....lying and waiting is a poor man's deal
....hopelessly weighed down by your eyes of steel
It's a world gone crazy
keeps woman in chains.

- Tears for Fears -

This juvenile macaque waited patiently backstage for its Thai master to guide its entry into the show.

Mass flowering of Hoya diversifolia

2010-12-10T19:31:00.003+08:00

A common large vine found throughout SE Asia including Singapore, often draping trees near mangroves or rivers.

Discovery of Paphiopedilum primulinum

2010-12-05T21:30:00.003+08:00

Inspired by a psychic dream of finding a blue orchid, Mr Liem Khe Wie the intrepid orchid hunter from Indonesia, set off with some companions on a perilous adventure during which one of them was wasted by leaches and the rest had to wrestle a giant python before finding this elusive "dream-like" plant flowering on a mountain slope in a "remote Indonesian Island", which we later discovered to be Sumatra.

Alas, instead of a blue flower, it turned out to be yellow.
Few seemed to buy this tall tale published in Orchid Review in 1973. but the yellow plant is real and is actually an aberrant flava form ; the more typical forma purpurascens shown below, which contains anthrocyanin pigments and a noticeably pink pouch, was described some 26 years later.
Other than the smaller flower, this species is similar to many members in sub genus cochlopetalum (most notably, I think, moquetteanum, liemianum and glaucophyllum) and differs by subtle colour variations of the bloom. As many orchid taxonomists will tell you, colour variation of the flower is insufficient for species delineation. But slipper orchids growers and experts are a passionate lot and they would have none of that. In light of this, I have to kowtowto Mark Wood who, in 1976, bravely suggested to lump all species in this section into a single taxon.

Unlike many of the Paphs, this species actually do well in the lowland and would flower quite frequently. The spike consists of several flowers which open singly and sequentially so flowering period appear to extend up to 3 months or more.

Addenda: I suspect the forma purpurascens shown in this pic to be a hybrid called Pinocchio, which is the same as the wild form except for the bigger flower.

Life as we know it....

2010-12-04T10:19:00.012+08:00

Migrating grebes and ducks foraging in early light ..... my etched impression of Mono Lake in Autumn.

With the surreal spires of tufa, great pool of still water and encircling misty mountains, I thought that if someone were to find an alien life form on earth, a Loch New Monster or something, it would be in a place like this.

Less than 2 months later, NASA published finding a bacteria in that lake that not only utilise Arsenic for energy but use this to replace Phosphorous in their cell structures...in DNA, cell membrane etc. Now both P and As are in the same column in the periodic table which essentially means chemically they are rather similar. However, biochemically, Arsenic, as we know from our Science if not from murder books, blocks the Krebs cycle, the ubiquitous path to energy production in aerobes, which eventually leads to cell death. Even anaerobes dispel this element from the body after utilisation. So to have it as part the of cell structure is unthinkable.

Granted, an image of a bacterium does not inspire as much awe as a Nessie but the scale of the discovery is such that basic science book will be rewritten and life as we know it is no longer limited to what it used to be.

Well, I was just glad I did not heed a guide book's proposal and took a plunge in the Arsenic broth....what happened if I accidentally took in a mouthful ?

Here's the link to Nasa's Report

Another Caudiciform Impatiens

2010-12-01T16:28:00.001+08:00

This one again coming from the Indo China region, where exactly I am not sure but I was told it was from Laos (unsubstantiated).
The medium size flattened bulb produce a plant with reddish stems and green leaves with a red mid-vein. The whorled arrangements of the leaves, the long racemes and its corky caudex sets it apart from the other more herbaceous Impatiens with Annual growth patterns. While resembling an I. mirabilis, this is quite different in a few ways namely the red stems the scarlet fine roots that appear when it breaks dormancy and scalloped leaves. Also, it is seasonally dormant, dying down to the horizontally flattened tuber annually, which is quite different from a mirabilis which rarely goes dormant unless in severe drought. On top of that, this plant rot so easily in the lowland that I am pretty convinced it is a dryish highland species.

Anyway there appear to be a few new species of caudex-type Impatiens unleashed from this region in recent years, mostly from the limestone hills.... so while we wait for the experts to publish their authoritative findings, I welcome any reports of other fellow grower's experience and observations on this interesting group of plants.

Dendrobium garrettii

2010-11-26T23:08:00.002+08:00

The minuscule bloom of this Thai orchid revealed .....each flower is less than 1cm long. The plant goes dormant seasonally, leaving only small spindle shaped pseudobulbs smaller than fingernails pronouncing its existance.

Hairy Pottery and the deathly hole

2010-11-23T01:04:00.001+08:00

I am getting an unbearable amount of spam comments on this subject for some time now, (mostly asking me to see some free streaming) .... so here's my version of this episode.... presenting....

Hairy Pottery and the Deathly Hole ......

"Oh no....those black flying tattered cloaks are here again....I am so mortified I cannot recall its name...let's hide....hmmm these are convenient ....."

"...oh...shall we hide in the bigger one ? It'll give us more head room .... "
........"Arghh ! " .........

Dear Reader, our three young heroes are kindhearted and quick-witted, but their lives, I am sorry to say, are filled with miseries and series after series of unfortunate events. Hence, despite being named after Nepenthe Pharmakon...the drug that chase away sorrows, this so mentioned pottery is the mother of all sorrows...especially if you are a bug, as our heroes are. So, if you have a stomach for deception, contraption, acidification, dissolution, obliteration and assimilation do stick around and proceed to.....

Hairy Pottery and the deathly hole Part II

Our villians of the day: (top) Nepenthes ampullaria, a deliciously pink form and (bottom) Nepenthes rafflesiana, a tricolored form from Sarawak.

At a Coastal forest

2010-10-14T13:35:00.000+08:00

Generally mangroves are not my favourite place ....with their muddy ground, humid pungent air and a potential crocodile lurking somewhere. On top of that, this particular one off the east coast of Malaysia appeared to be infested with belligerent macaques - I took heed of their shrieking war cries and angry barrage of the twigs tossed from up high and made a hasty retreat the day before.

Yet the next day, I returned, with a companion and an umbrella - just in case. I had to get through this mangrove to reach a jungle path behind it and my curiosity was getting the better of me.

Almost immediately, we were met by this critter, which appeared to be a form of plantain squirrel that is larger and more bushy-tailed than its southern cousin...... .... our attention soon turned to the water to find some darting mud skippers - a melancholic looking goby which can breath air....in fact it has been kown to drown in aquariums tanks which have too much water. .... the large orchid Cymbidium finlaysonii is everywhere near the clearings, even growing on the sandy ground. As we ventured further inland, we entered a lowland dipterocarp forest which turned out to be an orchid paradise. I was surprise to see this Dendrobium aloifolium growing in clumps on boulders so near the ground level - I had previously only seen them on fallen logs - usually they are perched high on the inaccessible parts of the trees. This plant had very interesting succulent leaves but its flowers - borned on the long terminal spikes, were minute and unattractive. Bulbophyllums seemingly from section Sestochilus were all over the place - this one dangling above the water was pregnant. It appeared that I had just missed the flowering season as none of them were blooming ..... .... another orchid that looked also like a Bulbophyllm but was in fact Thelasis pygmaea.Draping the branches and rocks are these Dischidia bengalensis .... a common and widespread Asclepiad that lived in close association with ants..... just above our heads are these Hydnophytum formicarum - a curious member of the Rubiaceae family that had hollow chambered stem sheltering ants and many other creepy crawlies - this particular one had a 10cm long centipede curled within. These tenants paid their dues by providing protection and whatever crap and leftovers to nourish the plant.On higher ground and crossing a stream, green and red forms of Nepenthes mirabilis were growing on the soggy banks. Some Dipterocarps had left their winged fruits on the ground ; these would make an interesting potpourri - all I need is a few drops of fragrant oil !As we walked pass this straggler vine and its host, we were reminded once again that even in the seemingly docile plant world, the savage struggle for resources was unrelenting ..... Bad luck for the tree ....its fate was sealed. The straggler constricted and cut through its bark, impeding the flow of water and food, and the tree suffered a slow demise. After it eventually rotted away, only a giant spring-like liana will remain, with one less competitor for sunlight.Trees along the trail were not really very big - this was one of the bigger one, and came equipped with a useful little hollow. The monkeys did not show up this time but the rain did, so we had use for the umbrella afterall. We kept our heads and noses dry....more or less.

Spathicarpa hastifolia

2010-10-03T00:08:00.001+08:00

The Drosophila are having a splashing good time fooling around on the spathe....or spadix of this aroid. In this South American plant, the spathe and spadix are fused - so it appears that the flowers are borned straight on a leaf.

Actually, the true leaf is more heart shaped - which is how it got its latin name.

There are a handful of species of Spathicarpa confined to sub-tropical/tropical S. America and all have the a habit of going seasonally dormant. This species is related to the more commonly cultivated caterpillar plant Spathicarpa sagittifolia.

Extinction threat to one fifth of world's plants

2010-09-29T09:41:00.024+08:00

Saw this grim heading from AFP citing recent studies from Kew.

Stephen Hopper, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew was quoted as saying "This study confirms what we already suspected, that plants are under threat and the main cause is human-induced habitat loss"

....well , not new, but perhaps now they can put a number to it ....

Especially threatened is the habitat of tropical forest, which has been converted to agricultural land. Human activity accounted for 81 percent of threats, according to Kew researcher Neil Brummitt.

Here's another snippet :

Plants were more threatened than birds, as threatened as mammals and less threatened than amphibians or corals, it said. Gymnosperms, the plant group including fir trees, were the most threatened.

Well....ok....so what can we do about it ?

Rather then just leaving it to a handful of institutions, I suppose if each serious gardener can adopt just one or two species - propagate them well and send them off to interested parties all over the world, then this could lighten the load. But unfortunately, things are not so simple - even if there are gardeners with inclination and expertise, we still have to overcome regional politics, CITES, customs and security red tapes and the like ....

....enough muttering, back to the garden.

You can see full reports all over the web, but here's one from yahoo

Addenda:

In response to rohrerbot's comment, I did a rough calculation - we can actually pack everyone in the world into a land mass the size of Sweden if we can accept living conditions equivalent to people from the Korean capital of Seoul (hey, I am not talking about Mumbai here), and leave the rest of our planet to the wildlife and plants. Its a rough guide but it just goes to show how much can be improved upon if there is a will.

Basis of my calculations :
world population of 6871600000
Population density of Seoul 167000
Sweden land mass 450 000 sq/km

Unusual resurrection plant

2010-09-26T23:58:00.005+08:00

This interesting Gesneriad was found growing on bare limestone hills of S Thailand. You can see that in nature, the dead leaves are left wrapped at the base of the plant.
On several occasions when I failed to water the plant, the leaves withered totally to the brown colour of the dried leaves seen above. Upon dunking it in water several times, the plant miraculously revived - with the same brown leaves turning green once more.

The plant produced multiple branching inflorescence once or twice a year
the bloom appeared to be typically Paraboea but it has yet to set seed naturally so far, which would verify its standing.
The leaves are hirsute on both sides, with brown hairs at the leaf edges, venations and petioles.

I am guessing its some kind of Paraboea but its specific name remain to be identified. Any suggestions are much welcome.

Colugo revisited

2010-09-11T10:43:00.000+08:00

Probably sensing I was not having the best of luck, afterall its a dark drizzly afternnoon in Bukit Timah Hill, a jogger came over and asked if I would be keen to shoot a colugo. Without waiting for my answer, he pointed to a tall tree about 20 metres away where about 10 metres or so above the ground was the silhouette of a suspicious looking lump.

Quietly, I moved closer, took aim, held my breath and fired away ....
This one kept to its daytime posture of trying to look like a cancerous outgrowth from the tree. I made funny sounds to try to make it turn its head towards me so that I could get a decent portrait to shows its friends but it just would not budge.... but you can see some flaps of skin under its armpit if you look hard enough.

Anyway, its a nice feeling, like seeing an old friend.

See also my nightime encouter a few months back.

Juvenile crawler

2010-09-10T11:11:00.001+08:00

Juvenile Scindapsus pictus starts life as a variegated vine scrambling in the dark forest floor. Once it find a vertical support, it climbs up and slowly transform into a giant leaf form and lose its variegation.

There are 2 species of Scindapsus commonly grown indoors due their tolerance for low light and low humidity. The pothos or money plant, S. aureus comes from New Guinea but is now found growing wild in the tropics. The other, S. pictus, is from SE Asia.

This population is found at Bukit Timah Hill.

Fern-like Begonias

2010-09-03T23:29:00.002+08:00

Some Asian Begonias have the unbearable likeness of being a fern - a case of parallel evolution perhaps. There are a few advantages I can think of. The water run-off will be more efficient and leaves will not rot as easily - a commonly encountered problem with jungle Begonias. Also, the broken leaf shape may deter a female butterfly, for example, from depositing eggs there, thinking it had already been already been visited by a compatriot.

Here are 3 species I can think of that would fit this bill :

Originally collected from an island of Polillo in the Phillippines a decade or so ago, Begonia polilloensis is characterised by its compound, bristly leaves that looked like a Selaginella and an inflorescence with many pink male flowers and a solitary female flower. It is surprisingly robust and cuttings are easy to strike. It can also withstand relatively drier apartment home culture conditions although it will definitely prefer a terrarium-like environment.

Begonia bipinnatifida has the very finely divided leaves that looks like filmy ferns. This native of Papua New Guinea has been known for almost a century but is not common in collections - I myself found it to be very challenging to grow. Like the previous species, this is another member of the bulky Petermannia Section which is a predominantly East Asian. I have seen very handsome shrubs in botanical institutions in the west (see below) .... .... but have yet so grasp the trick to make it grow well.

The third species is a novel un-named plant found on wet granite slopes in Southern Thailand. This plant really look like the Pteris fern and any casual observer would have dismissed it as such - unless it is caught flowering of course. I was told local Thais would eat this like a vegetable.

Addenda:

This species is recently named Begonia pteridiformis
Thai For. Bull. (Bot.) 38: 37–41. 2010.

Durian Season

2010-08-29T23:48:00.000+08:00

Durio zibethinus , or durians if you may, are in the market again. 100 days ago, the tree would have looked like this ....yep, it takes that long from flowering to harvest.

The flowers open only for 1 day and do not self pollinated easily ; animal agents, mostly large bats called flying foxes or the smaller cave bats Eonycteris spelaea are summoned for the cross pollination task. In fact, cave bats are known to fly 100km from the coasts to the durian territories far inland just for this purpose. Rate of this occuring naturally are already low but with the decline of the flying foxes its even lower now.

Here are a couple of interesting info about durian as a crop and its relationship with bats.

Henckelia malayana

2010-08-27T19:54:00.005+08:00

This is a fairly commmon relative of African violets and appears to be confined to hills and highlands in Peninsula Malaysia. Like so many local members of this family, it is not well known nor commonly grown although it does has merits - its felty leaves for example, and its yellow flowers which is relatively unusual amongsts local gesneriads.

The genus Henckelia was revived by prominent Asian Gesneriad researchers Anton Weber and B. L. Burt in 1998 to include the bulk of the species formerly grouped under Didymocarpus. One would usually encounter members of this large genus, comprising of about 200 species, during a casual walk in a primary lowland forest around the Malesian region. According to Weber and Burt, Didymocarpus now comprises mostly temperate or highland species which may be periodically dormant - not a common trait for lowland tropical gesneriads here.

The trick for growing this plant successfully is cool climate and high humidity, which is not easy to duplicate at home unless you have a bright bathroom with air-con. I collected some seed pods for trial in the lowland and although germination rate is pretty ok, survival has been dismal.

This population is found growing about 50 metres from a mountain stream under very little shade.

Here's another example from the genus Henckelia

Unknown Amorphophallus - a second look

2010-08-22T00:06:00.000+08:00

I have looked at some photos and found that this tiny Thai species is certainly not A. obscurus as initially thought. The small bloom stand at about 8cm tall. As for its ID, I am clueless - any help is appreciated !

Lotus pond in Dresden

2010-08-19T22:38:00.005+08:00

The Dresden Botanical Garden prides itself in having a large lotus pond within the greenhouse. The star attraction is the Victoria amazonica, the giant water lily from Amazon, which is right in the niddle of the pic. If you click to enlarge the picture, you can also see the yellow bloom of Nymphaea mexicana at the bottom left.

I think this is Nymphaea caerulea although I could not find the tag for this calmingly subtle bloom.
Nymphoides ezzannoi - a small African member of lotus family.

Artful Aristolochia

2010-08-18T08:18:00.004+08:00

Looking up the glass ceiling of the greenhouse at Teplice Botanical Garden, I was surprised by the sight of Aristolochia gigantea flowers dangling everywhere - each bloom is larger than a human head.

These flowers look and smell like rotten meat, but they are really much smarter. On the first day of opening (anthesis), the flower is in female phase during which flies, fooled by the sight and smell, enter a chamber via a constricting entrance lined by inward pointing hairs. This is where the reproductive structure(gynostemium) sits.

And there, they are trapped, but not too long - just 1 day, which gives them sufficient time to deposit pollen collected previously from another flower onto the stigma.

The next day, the flower change sex into a male and the fly is dusted with a new pollen coat once more. Soon, the hairs lining the entrance became flaccid and the fly can leave at will to visit another female flower - and repeat the ordeal.
At Dresden Botanical Garden, I saw a less well-known member of the family - Pararistolochia promissa, much smaller in size but no less intriguing nor pungent. This is a predominantly tropical African genus (with only 1 Asian species so far) that differs from the usual Aristolochias by having fleshy, colourful fruits rather than dry brown capsules. Most likely, it rely on fruit eaters for dispersal. And like its bigger cousin, it uses the same trick to get some. This plant is still restraining its unwilling runner in its smelly jail cell.

Refreshing my succulents encounter

2010-08-14T23:20:00.005+08:00

I do not have many succulents in my photo portfolio although I did start growing the miniature ones before everything else. The humid tropical climate here is not condusive for their growth and they tend to end up looking unnatural and dead. On top of that, to see them in their habitat would require me to break my piggy bank....and probably some other people's as well.

So while in Europe, I visited some succulent greenhouses in the botanical gardens to see how they would look if properly grown. I was immediately envious how nice and colourful even the more common Gasterias and Haworthias look over here - as I could barely recognise those same species being offerd for sale back home. There are many Aloes that are new to me, especially minatures like this A. descoingsii which I am itching to try....

....also very desirable is this relative of the pepper, Peperomia columella from Peruvian Andes - but its need need for a cool and dry environment probably means that it would not find Singapore very homely....

....and for the first time, I saw this man-size Cyphostemma juttae, a succulent from grape family which is relatively common amongst caudiciform collectors in the west but would be unlikely to do well in SE Asia.

....this is a xerophytic Madagascan version of the national flower of Malaysia, and as the label says, its called Hibiscus grandidieri.

....then, my heart missed a beat when I saw the Welwitschia mirabilis fruiting.

This plant grows in the dryest place on earth, bears just 2 creeping leaves throughout its life and has been known to live for more than a thousand years in the wild. I have seen it in documentaries and books but never in real life before....(click on pic to enlarge)

....and I learn too if you see moss covered rocks in the desert (especially in NW Argentina), you better look carefully before resting your butt on them .....

for these spiky moss wannabes from Bromeliad family, Abrometiella brevifolia to be precise, can be quite injurious to your behind.

La Mer

2010-07-24T21:18:00.003+08:00

....US market dipped 200 points ? Europe and Hang Seng bleeding red ink too .....that's bad Bill.... yep me too, I don't think employment data will shine tonight.... you poor man, luckily you just trimmed your portfolio last week....you didn't ? Yes I heard...the second biggest investment fund here is busted .... your money's in it ? .... what a depressing week you have, I am so sorry...... Who me ?

Well don't think you want to know....
ok if you insist....

....a bloody long flight and a thousand miles on the tarmac, I was on this shaky boat at the so called Bay of Fundy, keeping a watchful eye on the feathered bombers - these birds think the whole sky is their toilet.... but what blue sky, and sea too I have never seen it so blue....those cliffs are so high its like the Nasdaq during the dot com boom (snigger snigger).... and have you ever smelled the breath from the whales ? They smelled like .... like smelly armpits.... haha...actually its from the blow holes at the top....no gills Bill they are mammals like us, .... those fat seals lazing on the rocks, they remind me of you flat out at the bar counter after a really bad trading day, .... come to think of it, today will certainly count as one hahahahahaha ..........

hello Bill ..... you still there ? .....

pics 1-3: "Bird Island" off St Andrews, New Brunswick
pic 4: Grand Manan Island
pic 5: Minke whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata - smallest Baleen whale
pic 6: Fin whale Balaenoptera physalus - second largest Baleen whale, after the blue.

My memory of fins, feathers and fine weather of Fundy ....

Its a sign ....

2010-07-07T07:07:00.001+08:00

This one is so cool it should be on the cover of The Rolling Stone.

For a measly sum, someone passed me this thinking it was Bulbophyllum antenneferum. When the flower popped out some months later, I was like - holy moley, what the heck was that - blink blink !

Well, it is treasured for not being an antenneferum. Its sepals are way too thin and long. At the onset of opening fully, the bloom looked as if it clasped its hands in prayer .

Its probably Bulbophyllum unitubum or the close relative kemensinus from New Guinea. So far all its flowers open in this manner - quite fascinating. If anyone knows its true ID, please share it here !

Two forms of Begonia pendula

2010-06-24T15:08:00.000+08:00

This smallish species from Sarawak grows on vertical cliffs under wet dripping ledges away from direct sun. Leaves of Begonias are known to be highly polymorphic (ie varying over a single trait) so identifications base solely on the leaf appearance can be erroneous.

Illustrated here is a plain green leaves form and brown mottled form of the same species.

The floral characteristics are similar between the 2 forms. Male flowers are terminal on bright red stalks branched dichotomously. The less numerous female flowers are borned singly and separately and have 5 tepals. This plant likes free draining limestone medium - I grow the mottled form on a brick with crushed shell and corals.

This is a finicky and slow grower, you can go to on holidays for 3 months and come back to see it looking exactly the same when you left, with its few miserable leaves ....that is, if it does not rot. Patience and lots of love required....

Male flowers Female flower.

Nephelaphyllum borneensis

2010-06-08T23:26:00.000+08:00

Totally camouflaged against a backdrop of dry leaves, this ground orchid creep along a cool dark mountain slope in Sarawak. Some have regarded this to be a subspecies of the common and larger N. pulchrum. The literal translation of the latin name Nephelaphyllum is cloudy leaf.

Wagler's pit viper

2010-06-02T20:15:00.001+08:00

While scrambling up a limestone slope, we had to hold on to the perfectly vertical scraggy trees to prevent us from falling backwards. As it happened, this nocturnal serpent was curled up resting on one of the skinny trunks that we so nearly grabbed.

That would have been painful.

This species is mild tempered during the day but more active at night. Many of them are utilised to adorn a rather famous tacky tourist temple in Penang.

The gloriously yellow Aeschynanthus flavidus

2010-05-26T14:58:00.004+08:00

A striking lipstick vine that I initially thought was a very fine hybrid, but had my doubts when I verified the origin of the plant. A possible ID was suggested by experts from an institution - a plant first described by Mary Mendum in 1997. Besides the shocking colour, it also has a very tall and flaring calyx.

I wanted to get the publication to confirm the ID but there were always more pressing issues. Eventually, I obtained a copy from an acquaintance. I cannot verify the presence of glanduular hairs inside the flower but the other characteristics matched very well with this plant - the leaf shape, flower colour right down to the "crimson central line and the broken dots and dashes either side" of the lower corolla lobe. According to Mary's paper, when her specimen first flowered, the calyx was short (1.5-2 cm) but subsequent flowers had longer calyx of 2.7-3.4cm, as my series of photos also showed. The shrub also appeared to be rather rare, being found in only 3 localities in North Sarawak.

Just for the record, I had attached the published line drawing from Mary's paper for comparison. What the paper failed to emphasise is the very unique leaf colour -velvety purple-green hairy at the top and brighter green at the edge and pink at the bottom, very pretty even when not in bloom.

This is a treasured gift from my gesneriad friend from Borneo.

Addenda (28 May 2010)
Scroll down this emag for an interesting article by Dr Anthony Lamb
Lipstick flowers of Sabah and Sarawak

Hoya nicholsoniae from Australasia

2010-05-19T18:09:00.003+08:00

One of the earliest Hoyas I grow, having acquired it from a nursery in Cairns more than 12 years ago. It is naturally occuring in Northern Queensland, Australia and New Guinea. According to D.J. Liddle and P.I. Forster (1992), H. pottsii, H. hellwigiana and H. sogerensis are conspecific.
The spicy scented flowers occur around Dec-Apr, its smell being most intense in the evening. The vine, with its pinkish veined leaves, is calmly attractive even when not flowering, although if given the right condition, that is, hot and humid jungle-like atmosphere, it will run riot in the garden, which can be untidy.

Now, to catch my late flight ......

Bulbophyllum blumei

2010-05-12T23:38:00.000+08:00

This lowland Bulbophyllum is the type species of Section Ephippium, (in layman terms means it is the species from which the characteristics of the section is based upon). The plant can be very robust, forming trailing chains up to a metre long and has an endearing tendency to flower en mass - triggered by some unknown climatic stimulus, perhaps a storm or temperature drop similar to the pigeon orchid. The plant is reputed to grow wild in damp places like mangroves so a dryish windy high-rise balcony is not welcome.

I am including closeups of a form from Indonesia (most likely Java) and another from PNG to illustrate the subtle differences. There is even a totally red/white form without any yellow colouration which I am seeking....any leads are welcome ! Mass flowering of the PNG plant.
Closeup of the PNG form, showing elongated petals
The Indonesian form with short petals.

It has a wide distribution from SE Asia to New Guinea, so confused scholars have allocated different names to the same plant over time. It has been called Bulbophyllum masdevalliaceum due to its resemblance to the totally unrelated Masdevalia from the New World as well as Bulbophyllum ciliatum, probably of its fine hairs on the sepals. Its most recent name change is Bulbophyllum maxillare - such is the fickleness of taxonomy that can have non-academics like me going in circles like a headless chicken....I am sticking to blumei because this is the name I have known for along time.

Variations of Begonia bataiensis

2010-05-06T23:59:00.000+08:00

Mr Truong Quang Tam's kind contribution showing this Begonias' variation in the wild is an eye opener for me. He is the discoverer of this species which was subsequently named in a joint publication with Ruth Kiew and JJ Vermeulen (the orchid expert). If anything, it demonstrates the need to protect species in the wild to preserve the biodiversity - all too often, the horticulture trade results in unnaturally bias selection.

This fascinating Vietnamese Begonia described very recently in 2005, is restricted to the limestone hill called Ba Tai mountain. A closeup of the leaf was posted previously.

Ref: Gard. Bull. Singapore 57:119–23.

Spring fever

2010-05-03T23:37:00.026+08:00

The sedated winter ferments and foments a coup d'etat in the biological world that unleash upon the North East USA once the ice melts and air warms. The drumbeat of spring plays like speed-metal - hormone-charged new shoots ooze from the ground and bare branches in tempo of 200 beats per minute.

The fertile stems of the primitive Equisetum punch purposefully into the warm air, looking as they had looked for the past hundred million years.....in fact, looking more like rattler's tails rather than the common name, Horsetails....

....the toxic bridal veil of Amianthium muscaetoxicum, adventurous ruminants had been known to be rewarded with supreme enlightenment no less than rigor mortis....

.... the alluring guise of Trillium erectus belies a noxius smell due to its penchance for flies and its tendency to cut your tongue with tiny calcium oxalate crystals.

Elsewhere .....

.... Jack-in-the pulpit unpacks an uplifting sermon ....

.... Mountain Laurel summons an unrestrained cheer ....

....a trail of pink slippers were left by some maiden ....

.... to bait and ensnare a prince or emir ....

One of the many victims of this uprising, my little romp in the wild resulted in excessive inhalation of the pollen laden air....and a wretched paranasal sinusitis which lasted til' late summer.

How can something so good feel so bad ?

ps: Accordingly to some taxonomists, there should be only one species of the variable Arisaema triphyllum although completely green forms were also sighted. The encounter of the Cyrpripedium acaule occured in Virginia and was highlight of the trip. And thanks to the good people of defunct UBC forum for identifying the horsetail, which I had initially thought was a fungus, ha ; and Beth from Firefly forest for id-ing the Fly Poison.

The smallish Amorphophallus pygmaeus

2010-03-09T21:14:00.001+08:00

This is one of the smaller members in a genus of giants, although it is by no means the smallest- that title falls on Amorphophallus pusillus which has leaf stem (petiole) less than 10 cm tall. This flowering specimen is about 30cm tall, which is close to the literature size of 40cm quoted by Wilbert Hetterscheid, the expert in this field.

This plant is a native of limestone hills in central Thailand. Like most Amorphophalluses, the solitary inflorescence break dormancy before the leaf and has a white spathe that wraps around the spadix. The base of the spathe is reddish and warty on the inside.

The plant can be grown on loose sterile substrates - mainly perlite and coarse hydro clay pellets for me. During the growing season, I would spray a generous sprinkle of slow release and increase water dosage for encouragement.

Orchidantha maxillaroides

2010-03-07T00:08:00.000+08:00

The genus Orchidantha is based on O. borneensis described by N.E. Brown in 1886. In 1893, Ridley named another new species featured in the picture, Orchidantha maxillaroides , from a plant collected in Pahang and went on to errect a new family Lowiaceae to place these plants. The family is closely related to Musa (the banana family) in having 5 stamens facing a style and a large middle petal. Flowers last only 1-2 days and are found on branching inflorescence. The flower looked like an orchid, with 2 lateral petals and a large central petal known as labellum (equivalent to the lip of orchids, the landing pad for pollinating insects).

Flowers from O. borneensis and fimbriata are known to be putrid to attract flies or dung beetles but I could not detect any smell in this plant. Paradoxically, natives from Terengannu were obseved to use the leaves of O. fimbriata, which seemed to have a banana smell when crushed, to wrap rice cakes.

Since there's not much information about other species of this little known genus in the internet, I reproduce here an ID key based on R.E. Holttum's paper in 1970. It's very likely that more species have been described since then.

Bye !

2010-03-03T09:45:00.002+08:00

It shouldn't really have to be so bitter, knowing that things can only get better, but mere mortals that we are, could only shed a river of tears, as we bid our goodbyes.

Somewhere at the fjord of Mid Hudson ....

Hoya revoluta

2010-03-02T21:29:00.000+08:00

A common epiphyte usually associated with ants nest together with other myrmecophytes like Hydnophytums and Dischidia, this smallish Hoya is not easy to cultivate. It has characteristics fleshy leaves with an even thicker leaf margin. The flower clusters are also characteristics, with the outmost flower stalk longer and curving inwards. It is found throughout SE Asia including Borneo and Sumatra.

This is another Eu-Hoya and look very similar to Hoya micrantha.

Colugo sighting

2010-02-17T00:28:00.001+08:00

I saw my first colugo Galeopterus variegatus a couple of years ago while doing some night shoot. As it turned out, and much to my pleasure, it was to be the first of many encounters. During the latest sighting, I was eventually successful in capturing some decent shots of this elusive critter, a most accomodating juvenile who does not mind to have pictures taken.

In my opinion, Colugo is the most iconic creature of the Singapore wilds, - it is the only gliding relative of the primates, unique to this region (only found in SE Asian forests), adorable yet untamable(it has not been successfully kept in any zoos before). It inhabits only the primary forests, a highly vulnerable habitat, and so itself is in a very precarious position. A recent survey shows there are still about 2 thousand of these creatures gliding around in Singapore's woods - which is not a bad number at all.

I was a little disappointed it did not glide for me this time, but took comfort in the assumption that it was probably not too intimidated by me. I wish this little critter all the best in Singapore's shrinking forest....

Raffles Hotel for Formicids

2010-02-10T21:28:00.000+08:00

When modern Singapore's founding father Stamford Raffles returned to this tiny island in 1822, he found himself in a rough patch with William Farquhar, the deputy he empowered to govern this island before he sailed to Bencoolen to further his ambitions. Farquhar's apparent laissez faire style of governance was just not of his liking, although the local businesses were having a roaring good time, not just in mainstream commerce, mind you, but also in gambling, opium trade, slavery and other unmentionables that were part and parcel of the roaring good time.

Raffles would have none of it, and promptly outlawed all of these.... his strict moralistic upbringing clashing heads on with the old man and his pro-business ideas....

In between the reeling and dealing, Raffles took to exploring the woods with his botanist friend, Nathaniel Wallich, an activity he was known to enjoy very much. During one of their excursions in Singapore's wilds, they found this strange ant-harbouring Dischidia vine.
Each vine was observed to bear two types of leaf, one that looks like small flat tortoise shell hollowed out on the inside and the other that looks kind of like pitchers of Nepenthes with a very small opening. For wandering ants seeking a roof over their heads, these leaves would draw them like a pundit to a soapbox, a gambler to a casino or any man left standing, after the Decepticons' onslaught, to Megan Fox....

....in gratitude, the tenants would crap and leave whatever bodily leftovers inside the leaf, providing the malnourished vine a source of recycled energy. At times, the ants may even be called up to defend their abode from parasites or hungry herbivores...or curious botanists !
The ants' leftovers are much appreciated, as this cross section of one of the hollow leaves show. Roots extend hungrily deep into the ant nest to suck up whatever is available.

Many Dischidia species have modified leaves serving as ant hotels; this species, however, is the largest one. In 1831, Wallich described this plant in his book Plantae Asiatic Rariores and proceeded to name this plant Dischidia rafflesiana, in memory of his good friend who, by then, had passed. However, it was later found to be synonymous with a plant named Collyris major, described some twenty years earlier, so after a taxonomic revision and applying the strict nomenclature rule, this plant should now be correctly called Dischidia major.

The name had changed, but the plant's the same. The ants don't care a hoot. Even Sir Stamford, I suspect, might not be stirred - after all he already had the largest flower in the world named after him.

But I'd bet he would be reeling if he knew that this island nation he had founded just gave out its first gambling license to a casino, almost two hundred years after he out-lawed it.

Joey Palms

2010-02-07T07:06:00.005+08:00

Small Johannesteijsmannia magnifica growing in a nursery in Singapore.
There are 4 species of Johannesteijsmannia, or Joey palms, which has the centre of distribution in Peninsula Malaysia. These are one of the most architectural palms - with large broad or lance-shaped undivided leaves. J. altifrons, not yet full grown, used as an architectural specimen in a shady corner of Singapore zoo.

The other 2 species, J. lanceolata and J. perakensis are rare species found in northern Peninsula Malaysia and they are under threat from deforestation in the wild, although I believe they would be brought into the landscaping trade very soon, if not already.

The ephemeral fragrance of Pteroceras pallidum

2010-02-03T16:10:00.000+08:00

一天就調謝的小蘭花﹐ 不奢留芳百世﹐ 無悔地绽芬吐芳。。。。
There is little mention of the fragrance of this little native plant with leaves hardly 8cm in length. Hence, I was totally taken aback when I realised that the partially fruity vanilla-like aroma tickling my senses came from this solitary flower. It reminded me of Phalenopsis bellina but is more citrus-like. Despite its small size, it sure doesn't stinge when it comes to attracting its pollinators .... perhaps there isn't much time - with the flower lasting only a day.

Mojave winter

2010-01-23T07:24:00.003+08:00

Not far from the flare and glare of Vegas
Where the greed-is-good do-gooders get hard done by
A yucca stands like an exorcist on moral high ground
Hyperventillating its expatriation of doom
As the valley is subsumed in shadows and gloom

And the muted Cholla prick your conscience.

Not far from the waste and haste of Vegas
Where flies minesweep for buffet morsels like paparazzi
A hermit hiccuped a haiku
And hot-linked himself to Honey Stars
Lusting for Hazel, the nut
Who does not live here anymore.

An unusual Begonia kingiana

2010-01-12T18:28:00.000+08:00

This small and delectable species is named after Sir George King, head of the Royal Botanical Garden in Calcutta during late 1800s. There are lavish photos of 2 forms of this plant in Ruth Kiew's brilliant book "Begonias of Peninsular Malaysia" - one showing nicely variegated round leaves and the another very dark indigo leaves of similar shape but bearing crimson flowers instead of white/pink. There are other forms available and most of them have peltate, thick, dish-like leaves that feel like plastic to touch.

During a recce trip I found this rather unique form that had long drooping leaves with angular margin and a tapering drip point. Each dark coloured leaf has 5-6 light bands radiating from the centre - its quite distinct from the forms shown in Ruth's book. I observed that this plant is very exact in its requirement, preferring dark, humid limestone cliffs and forming patches of dense vertical cover on a particular hill, yet apparently absent at neighbouring hills.

This species is endemic to west Malaysia and is closely related to the extinct B. eiromischa.

Check Mate

2010-01-07T08:28:00.001+08:00

The reckless nymphette Fed-Exed herself into the wanton arms of an aging web master....her body, wrapped in the best nuptial silk, is nevertheless emptied of vital vigour as toxic mastication morphed it into a phantom ship ....

Out in the field trying my new gadgets when I stubled upon this Parawixia dehaani gift wrapping a Cicada. This is a commonly encountered orb-web spider widely distributed in SE ASia.

Bulbophyllum sumatranum Garay 1996

2009-12-27T22:22:00.003+08:00

Bulbophyllum lobbii is a widely distributed taxon from the very horticulturally interesting section Sestochilus which has many large flowering species. Its found throughout SE Asia and New Guinea and due to this wide geographical range, many forms exist.

In 1996, Dr Leslie Garay and other experts published this new species from Sumatra - Bulbophyllum sumatranum, which many scholars from a different camp considered to be simply a variation of Bulbophyllum lobbii (var. breviflorum to be exact) described some 88 years earlier. Personally. I think it just looked like a smaller version of lobbii with very red lateral sepals.

You can compare this with B. claptonense - another delectable, if debatable, species and make your own conclusion.

Ref: Garay et al, Lindleyana 11: 230 (1996)

Yellow

2009-12-22T00:21:00.006+08:00

Subjugated by darkness and dull drone of a midnight torrent, my mind wandered off to a coronal cartwheel that swirled with bursts of imperial yellow and perfumed with a cheerful tinge of fruit that had yet to form.

It felt like a new sunny morning already.

Gardenia gjellerupii is a smallish tree with nice mango fragrance bloom.