Forest flora

My duck was allowed out today and while wandering out in the woods, I came across this small tree in exuberant form, with a fresh flush of anthocyanin foliage coupled with thousands of small pink blossoms that were already littering the forest floor with a sprinkle of petals. I have a feeling I should know the taxa of this tree (either I wasn't paying attention to the right people or maybe my duck subscribes to the notion espoused by Ronald Reagan who once said, 'if you've seen one tree, you've seen 'em all!') but unfortunately some better bird will have to enlighten me (any ideas Mable?).

On an earthy bank shaded by secondary forest I found this fern, a Hymenophyllum?

A moss growing nearby. I shall take this opportunity to quibble a little. A fruitful offshoot of the aquaria pastime for which Singaporean hobbyists can claim credit for much new ground is the realm of aquatic bryophytes. Thanks to the dligent enthuasism of individuals such as K.L. Loh, C.W. Gan and Ben Yau – with the invaluable aid and patience of bryologist Dr. Benito Tan of the Department  of Biological Sciences at NUS – the taxonomy of some of the common mosses seen in the hobby has been greatly clarified and an index of related postings can be found here.

In short, one can say that virtually all reference books (even quasi-scientific ones) have got it wrong with regard to the popular spawning aid known as Java moss. Hitherto known as Vesicularia dubyana, Dr. Tan has referenced Japanese-language journals that assign this moniker to a rather different moss in a different genus altogether. According to him, the stringy plant commonly identified as Java moss is Taxiphyllum barbieri, while V. dubyana is a semi-aquatic moss that ranges all over Malesia.

Alongside this revelation, hobbyists have in recent years enjoyed a deluge of attractive new mosses with fancy trade names such as Christmas moss (Vesicularia montagne), erect moss (Vesicularia reticulata), stringy moss (Leptodictyon riparium), taiwan moss (Taxiphyllum alternans?) and weeping moss (Vesicularia ferriei). Still others run rampant in shops with exotic petnames like peacock moss, spiky moss and mini moss.

The small group of hobbyists who engaged themselves in this obtruse study of shapely gametophytes are serious, responsible folk who know their basic science and seek no gains other than a greater pleasure in their pursuit. Some other hobbyists, however, seem to be possessed by a desire for discovery that betrays a total lack of understanding of basic botany, even the simple laymen discussions that did so much to inform curious browsers on K.L. forum. These people take it upon themselves to christen or identify any and every new moss they come across with the explicit hope that it proves to be a new taxa. This habit appears to be unreformable, despite the much-repeated intonation that the visible habit of a single species of moss (especially those with aquatic and terrestrial forms) can differ owing to environmental conditions as well as an inherent phenotypical plasticity. Buyers and sellers will squabble over whether a moss in question is really one of a desirable species and demand precise answers that can only be conclusively addressed by the trained eye of a botanist with a microscope.

More serious is the resultant fervour amongst some hobbyists for collecting (and 'discovering') mosses for culture in their aquaria. Armed with the knowledge that most aquatic mosses also grow on terrestrial substrates, they come to suspect every pretty patch of moss at the base of a tree or between the tiles of a ditch to be the next big hit of the hobby (I should mention as well as 'new' mosses tend to command extravagant prices). Land-locked Fissidens mosses are drowned en masse in this process of experimentation and I am thankful for the fact that mossfanatics comprise a relatively small minority of hobbyists whose excesses are likely to result in marginal impact on local turfs at most.

In the shallows of a pool, a lawn of carnivorous herbs covers the mud with a field of stolons and stubby green leaves. I could see two different flowers shooting up towards the surface, one yellow (not shown) and the other mauve, belonging respectively to Utricularia bifida and Utricularia minutissima (I think). According to the Science Centre mini guidebook series on local carnivorous plants, there are seven species of Utricularia in Singapore, two of which are extinct. U. gibba is the one most familiar to aquarists, being the wirey threads that get tangled up in some tanks. The others are mostly as pictured, short leaves  on stolons that spread out as a lawn, except for U. aurea, which has feather-like leaves that look superficially like Cabomba spp.

I found many leaves on different plant species bearing these swellings. Are they the work of some borer?

It seems to be the fruiting season for many trees, including the olive-like jering (Archidendron jiringa). That at least I could recognise. Being a marshland creature, my duck has no clue what the above three fruits are – maybe the terrestrial monkey could help, since these berries must surely be sources of nourishment for famished furries.

Comments

[monkey]

those are plant tumors silly duck
quite sad that you said that you observed lots of plants with that :(

[Mable]

Hi Budak,

Pink flower looks like:

Cratoxylum formosum
Family: Guttiferae
Common name: Mempat
Origin: Indochina, Malaysia & Philippines

Pg 342 of 1001 Garden Plants in Singapore.

Typing the botanical names is really a feat at this time of the night but since you mentioned me, I felt that I should at least do some simple research. This info will be helpful when I come across this flower and better still, when someone ask me for its name. At least I can say "Pink Mempat", never mind that I cannot recall a single syllable of the botanical name. Cheers! :-)

[budak]

Ya, I think you are right!

[Yen Kheng]

I am googling Melastoma malabathricum and came upon this site. It's Cratoxylum maingayi, sister of C. formosum ; )

[budak]

orh, okay.... thanks! I really can't tell my flowers apart!

[Mable]

Me too when things get complicated. Thanks Yen Kheng for pointing out that there is a close relative which a non-expert like me was not aware of. And Mr Budak, your photos are really nice! Please see my Bukit Batok nature park photos:

http://flowersinsingapore.com/Albums/BukitBatok/index.html