Durian stall, Balestier Road.
The durian is one of some thirty species of the genus Durio (Bombacaceae, allied with Malvaceae), which occur in the rain forests of South-East Asia, chiefly Borneo. On this genus centres a great deal of tropical biology. The species are trees of moderate to great size, evergreen with slender twigs and simple alternate leaves, the undersides of which are silvery, orange, or brownish from small scales. They are therefore advanced trees of willow habit. The massive flowers, 2-4 in. wide, vary from red to pink and white and they are borne in most cases on the branches and trunk, even near its base. They produce copious nectar and smell of sour milk; they are pollinated both by bees, when they open in the late afternoon, and by bats, at night...
The durian, which is grown in villages and occurs also in the forests, has the largest fruits. They ripen greenish-yellow to light orange, and the large pale-brown seeds are thickly coated with white to pale-yellow pulp. This heavily armoured, tough fruit splits slightly when ripe and its five parts can then be forced open. The fruit smells of a mixture of onions, drains, and coal-gas, but the aril has no smell and tastes of caramel, cream, and, as some say, strawberries and raspberries. Usually the fruit detaches when ripe and crash to the ground, where the pulp turns rancid in a day or two. In Malaya the smell of fruiting trees in the forest attracts elephants, which congregate for first choice; then come tiger, pigs, deer, tapir, rhinoceros and forest men. Gibbons, monkeys, bears, and squirrels may eat the fruit in the trees; the orang-outan may dominate the repast in Sumatra and Borneo; ants and beetles scour the remains on the ground. The discarded seeds begin to grow at once and establish massive seedlings under and around the parent trees. The great naturalist, Wallace, wrote in 1869; 'to eat Durians is a new sensation, worth a voyage to the East to experience'. To contemplate the durian trees fruiting is a new sensation worth a botanist's while, who would endeavour to perceive what plant life has been doing.
E.J.H. Corner, The Life of Plants (1964).
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