Hairy orchid

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

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

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

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.