What the Fig....

What the fig is that ??? 

Its a geocarpic fig actually, meaning that the figs are actually produced at ground level to benefit animal dispersal.  This particular species is Ficus uncinata which we found in central Kalimantan lowland forest close to a stream.

Figs emerge from  long hairy stolons that dangle down a branch and slide below the leaf litter. The seed dispersers are pigs, deers and mouse deers, which are not deers actually but more related to pigs. The spiky hooks on the pericarp is decorative but their real  purpose is to discourage ingestion by ground birds like pheasants and jungle fowl which have powerful gizzard that destroy the seeds

 

* cartoon from D. Eisikowitch and M. Ghara Acta horticulturae October 2017

 Now abit of biology.

Figs may be monoecious (where male and female flowers appear inside the same fig) or dioecious, where  different trees bear either all-male or all-female figs.  Ficus uncinata belongs to the latter category, which can be represented by either c (male) or d (female) figs. As you can see from the cartoon, the male fig actually contains many female short styled flowers, which are sacrificial in function and will not develop  seeds (as opposed to only long style ones in the female fig). The female pollinator, which is a species specific pollinator wasp, enter from a pore called ostiole and attempt to insert its long ovipositer via the style into the ovary to release the eggs but only succeed to do so in the short-style flowers in male fig,  the style in the female figs being too long for the ovipositer to reach the ovary. The eggs hatch in the male fig and induced gall formation which nourish the larvae - while the female figs, once pollinated, develop seeds and not galls. Hence, the fig offered its short styled female flowers as food for the wasp in exchanged for the long style flowers to be pollinated .... both the fig and wasp goes home happy.

This particular tree is a male as evidenced by the long stamens (white strands at top left) and the galls inside. 

Against the trend in the competitive, selfish natural world, the fig and the pollinator wasp work in such perfect mutualism  that it seems inevitable that there has to be a hacker, a lock picking free loader to spoil the fun. This comes in the form of a parasitic wasp, which the way, is really cool....

 .... this is another type of fig which we saw in Indochina. Can you see the tiny parasitic wasp at the top left fig ?

This wasp does not pollinate the fig - in fact it preys on the larvae of the pollinator wasp resulting in lower seed yield. Here you can see it inserting its skinny ovipositor through the pericarp

If you try pushing a strand of hair through the unripe fig, you will find that it will be an exercise in futility. However, this ovipositor is no ordinary strand of hair - its a material scientist's dream - not only does it has chemical and mechanical sensors, its ultra sharp tip is reinforced with zinc and throughout its length tiny pits are strategically located to allow it to bend rather then snap and break. This appendage allows this wasp to punch and feel its way into the area of the fig where the larvae of the pollinator wasp reside where it will deposit its eggs and gate crash the perfect party.

They are so cool that they can be forgiven for being the bad guys in this overall scheme of things ....

Farewell my porcupine - horsing around in Northern Vietnam

Northern Vietnam is a hinterland for traditional medicine, much of which, unfortunately, is plucked from the wild. While making a brief visit there, I found myself drifting in and out of  medical shops, some of them being just holes in the wall, checking out what they have to offer....

The first shocker for me is the ready availability of these kidney-shaped organs, which are actually  stomach of the Himalayan porcupine Hystrix brachyura subcristatum. These animals are quite commonly kept by villagers since all its parts are valuable - the meat can be consumed,  the stomach is used to treat intestinal diseases and the quill for malaria. By law only the farmed animal parts can be sold - but realistically there is no way of verifying.

The photo below, as you may have guess, is a phallus of some beast, and despite the language barrier I later found out to be the poor horse.  Ever since motorbikes and tractors have been introduced to this region the status of the horse as a beast of burden has reduced significantly. In fact, I did not recall seeing a live horse at the country side but horse meat and its parts were offered in restaurants and shops.

These are not firewood. They are the trunks of a woody shrub Mahonia neplensis which is found in the highland provinces of Northern Vietnam, spreading all the way north to the Himalayas. The bitter yellow trunk contains a high concentration of alkaloids which, according to  traditional doctors, is similar in function to the bear bile. With bear hunting now out-lawed and a widespread backlash on bile farm practices, this plant will see increased economic value over the years, at least in this part of the world.

Supposedly, faeces of flying squirrels can invigorate blood circulation - the catch is that it must be eaten uncooked. I would like to see Andrew Zimmern (of Bizarre food fame) tackle this one. Several shops displayed the mummies of the giant flying squirrels Petaurista  sp although I do not know of its use. Having seen the adorable creature alive and kicking at the Singapore Night Safari, I was actually sorry to see its village cousin ending this way.  

 

A threesome of the less aerially gifted, though no-less mummified, members of the squirrel family. 

Mythical powers of the Linzhi (Ganoderma lucidum) mushroom is well known amongst Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Vietnamese - the earliest record of its use being in the late Han period more than two thousand years ago. These specimens from a local shop looked rather spindly but the shop owner assured they were the real deal.

And now for some local wine, perhaps to go down with your prime ribs ?

The ubiquitous cobra wine - sometimes with a scorpion thrown in for added measure, can be found in every self-respecting medical shops in Vietnam.....

.... but I was totally unprepared for this large jar of alcohol containing a pickled monitor lizard....

....likewise the ones with multiple carcasses of the Towkay gecko.
This is how one makes a lizard wine - the specimen chosen must have its tail intact as this is the most potent anatomy. Its eyes must be removed, otherwise the eyesight of the drinker will be harmed. Sometimes, the internal organs are removed but not necessary so. In place of the eyes, each hollow socket is sometimes stuffed with a single wolf berry. The whole reptile is then soaked in white wine for 6 months at least before consumption. By then the wine would darken to a brownish hue. And what is it supposed to do for you ? Other than boosting men's libido, it is said to strengthen the lungs and aids concentration.

Hornet wine .... now I suspect you can put any critter in that vial of alcohol and they will find a medical use for it. Maybe its just a man's excuse to his missus to get tipsy .....

After rummaging through the dark and dusty medical shops, I took to the road and arrived at a tribal market, which was a much more cheerful affair. There were many tribes in this single congregation, and they can be identified by the clothes worn by the woman folks.

The bright colourful  ones are the Flower Hmong....

 

..... those donning black solemn clothes with red head dress are the Dzaos.

a pot bellied piglet with a limited worldly outlook .....

 

 .... and this will go to the pet shop .... kidding.

 .... and whatever remained of a well fed python - the lumpy bits being actually the fat storage organs.

Most of the peddlers from the hill tribes are women. This is a place for them to meet up and chat with each other....and shop.

A man displayed some roots of wild Panax notoginseng, a relative of ginseng and a major ingredient in the famous proprietary Chinese medicine 云南白药 (Yunnan Bai Yao) that was said to be carried by the Viet Cong to treat wounds during the Vietnam war. The local name for this is San Qi (literally means three, seven) which are the years in which the root is most potent. Roots of the cultivated plants can be commonly found in shops in the city.

  

The spiny fruits may have come from a palm but I do not have a clue what the rest were. I did find the fern rather attractive and bought a bunch back for the garden.   

Cyrtandra splendens- field notes

This large species from the African violet family (Gesneriaceae) is commonly encountered in lowland of Borneo. It has an errect woody stem and whorls of large woolly leaves that may be plain green or in shades of darker hues which is an attraction in itself. However, when a large plant is in flower, its a magnificent sight.

Cyrtandra is a large Malesian genus consisting of 500 species - give and take a hundred - many species are notoriously difficult to differentiate due to them taking on different appearances, a characteristic termed polymorphism by biologists. The genus as a whole is not commonly cultivated as most species are rather plain and the flowers are in shades of white. Cyrtandra, unlike its close relatives Didymocarpus or Henckelia, have indehiscent fruits - ie the fruits do not split open to release the seeds into the wind. In fact, the seeds are likely dispersed by birds as many of them are fleshy and soft.

Local tribesman told me they rub the leaves on game meat like wild boar or civet prior to cooking, as they absorb the heavy oily taste typical of such flesh. They also said this herb can only be gathered in the forest as attempts to cultivate them have failed. This is rather typical - many of these jungle herbs need a highly moist and shady environment to thrive and they can be tricky to grow.
As it so happened, they had a smoked civet paw by the fireside and I was welcomed to try it.

Up in Aba county, Sichuan

Yaks grazed below us all over verdant valleys nestled between towering peaks of the Minshan (泯山)range. The van crept pass the frigid Snow Ridge at 4000m before descending to about 3000m from which we started our walk. Sadly for us, Huang Long was cloaked in fog and snow. More flakes descended upon our puffy clothes as we made our ascent, further dampening the mood. We were ill-prepared for this - snow in the first week of October, wet socks and pathetic wind breakers. Eventually, some of us decided to turn back.

Like a gasping goldfish out of water, I eventually made my way to the famed turquoise terraced pools. On a bright clear day, I could imagine that it would make a stunning photograph but in such poor light, I simply snapped a few SOPs and hurried along a two hour track back to the van....
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8pm.

Illuminated by headlights, streaks of raindrops appeared from nowhere in the darkness and pounded upon the windscreen with pugnacity.

I was the front seat passenger of the little van speeding past queer villages interspersed by stands of coniferous trees. The van was going at 100km/hr on a narrow winding mountain road that had an official speed limit of 30km /hr.

We were late and cold, and I was still having tsunamis in my gut. I shuddered at the thought of what local cuisine might be available to us up here, having just attended a grand banquet in the lowland village a couple of days ago.... ....I was convinced SiChuan food is not good for me. I did not know if it was the peppercorn or something else. It might well be the peppercorn - if it could numb my lips and tongue upon contact - imagine what it could do if it lingered a couple of hours inside the gut.

"Entering the road of nine bends" said a sign.

As the van made an almost 180 degree turn, a sign appeared at the turning point: "First of nine Bends"

"Second of nine Bends".

"Third of nine Bends". I was ready to wind down the window and puke on the tarmac.

When we finally turned pass the sign declaring "Ninth of nine Bends", my head was oscillating and eye balls spinning, but managed to let out a sigh of relief nontheless - a gesture to others sitting behind that I had not passed out. Then the van suddenly veered right and make another sharp descending hairpin turn, and yet another on the left. Someone had obviously forgotten about the "Tenth of nine Bends" - or eleventh for that matter.....

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At the restaurant's cashier counter, there was a curious large glass jar filled with a dark coloured liquid with lots of fibrous debris at the bottom. An attendent gestured me to try it. The Chinese labelled read "Duo Bian Jiu" or multiple-penises wine - very good if you want to you-know-what. I tried to explain that in my current state, it could reduce my chance of survival.

An adjacent counter was selling all types of local medicine - deer antlers ; pseudobulbs of Tian Ma or Gastrodia in Latin, a saprophytic orchid ; dried flower heads of Snow Lotuses or Sasssurea sp, a magical herb much mentioned in Kung Fu novels as an antidote for an "evil heat" toxin but used traditionally as cure for inflammation, flu, stomach ache and infertility :
claws of a badger-like beast : Of course, we also found some of the raw ingredients of potent wine - yak penises almost 2 foot long : and those of wild dogs, which I suspect could be dholes or red dogs :

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By next daylight, we realised we were actually surrounded by lush slopes on both flanks of the hotel. As it turned out, the trip in Jiu Zhai Gou was very tame - shuttles ferried visitors to most attractions. So now I could claim to have seen with my eyes those emerald pools, waterfalls. snow dusted conifers etc etc previously seen in brochures and coffee table books. I do wish the light condition had been better though .......

.... the little piece of mound that one calls home is pinched away by hostile forces well beyond one's control.
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Signing off....

Market finds in Vietnam

Roadside plant stands at a less touristed market near Hanoi. It was almost Christmas so Poinsettias were everywhere. I was hoping to find some local ornamental plants but all I could see were pots of foreign exotics.

Nestled between bottles of red wine and whisky, this is Vietnam's very own King Cobra wine. I must say this is the most impressive specimen I had seen there and the shop owner showed great pride in this as well. He explained to me in some length about its benefits, which I could not understand much other than it makes you strong and virile....what else......

Vining gourds, vegetables and herbs placed beside pots of flowering roses.

The large gourd of Momordica cochinchinensis is rather uncommon since it is only harvested between November to January and is known locally as Gac. Its orange pulp is used to make an orange oily sticky rice. Supposedly, it contains a lot of useful fats called lycopene and ten times as much beta-carotene as carrots. Sadly, the use of artificial colours and its limited availability had dimished its use in the local recipes.

Some kind of Stephania, another useful herb supposedly containing anti-cancer compounds.

Now this is the one I was hankering for. The "Welsel" of these coffee beans actually means "weasel", but in truth most likely some kind of civets. The coffee beans were fed to these creatures from which the partially digested crap was collected from their behinds and somehow processed into these gourmet coffee. I tried the Arabica and it was heavenly - strongly aromatic yet with none of the sour aftertaste typically associated with most coffee. I must say, its good to the last dropping....