Gouty Cay Gao

The weird trunk of the famous specimen of Cay Gao, (Salmalia malabarica or Bombax malabaricum) along the Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi, Vietnam. This large tropical tree is a relative of the Hibiscus.

Hoya spartioides- One Night Only

While visiting a friend's private garden in Sarawak, I chanced upon an unusual twig-like plant rooted upon a hollow log with Dischidias and live ants all over it. I asked if it has small yellow flowers and he was a bit surprise "How do you know ? Yes they are yellowish orange and tiny, not very pretty...." The grower had collected it from western Sarawak, which appeared to be a new geographical range for this plant, as it was previously recorded only in Sabah and Kalimantan.
The plant in question, is the odd Hoya spartiodes which is sometimes placed in its own genus Absolmsia. This is a rare plant (or perhaps easily overlooked in the field) although it has been described since last decade of 1800s. The green tips are actually the peduncles - the flower stalks ; the rest of the plant do not have chlorophyll - except for an occasional small leaves which are very short-lived. The tiny orange flower clusters open one night only, and has a sharp smell like burning rubber. Seeds of this plant are carried by ants to their nests, usually rotting tree trunks, from which a plant may grow, with its root balls deep within the nest. The ants provide protection and food for the plant. All these are adaptations to dry harsh conditions of its kerangas habitat.
Historical sketch from Hooker's Icon., 1880

Type: Absolmsia spartioides (Benth.) Kuntze (Astrostemma spartioides Benth.).

Ref:
1) Absolmsia Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 2: 417 (1891).
2) Hooker's Icon. Pl. 13: pl. 1311. 1880
3) Omlor, R. Generische Revision der Marsdenieae (Asclepiadaceae). Diss. Univ. Kaiserslautern 1998.

Number game

The miniature bloom of Dendrochilum pallidiflavens.

There are between 100-200 species in this SE Asian genus of mostly small to very small orchids that produce arching sprays of tiny flowers. Similar looking species sometimes turn out to be different when flowers are viewed under magnification.

Cucurma rhabdota

Before it was formally described by Sirirugas and Newman in year 2000, this plant was already available in the horticulture trade and I could see rhizomes available in the internet in USA, albeit mislabelled as C. gracillima 'Candy Cane' or "Chocolate zebra". .It was originally found in Laos but was reported to be common in Ubon Ratchathani in Thailand as well.

I was glad that my unknown rhizome from Thailand turned out to be this neat species but the plant soon proved to be an unreliable bloomer in this climate. I got this plant the same year it was described and so far had only seen its bloom three or four times.

Genus Cucurma consists of about 80 species* of mid to small-sized gingers (Family Zingiberaceae). The tumeric spice comes from the root of one of these, Cucurma domestica. Thailand and India are hot spots for number of species (about 36-40) although I suspect many little-explored regions of Indo-China may hold a lot more than what we know now.