Adenium flowers from my garden

 

 



 

African violet

 More weekend flowers are here

Today's flowers: Fuchsia

These red lantern like flowers are fuchsia, is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees. Like this pink fuchsia here.
The first Fuchsias were discovered in the Dominican Republic and Haiti by a French monk and botanist called Charles Plumier. He gave them the name Fuchsia in honour of the German botanist Leonhart Fuchs.

Fuchsias are available in a vast array of colors and shape, they are very popular garden shrubs in America and Europe, When I was traveling in Europe, I have seen the beautiful flowers everywhere, flourish throughout Europe. I was thinking how good if it could grow here in Singapore.

 simple yet exquisite elegance

Fungi at the Dairy Farm Nature Reserve

 
For the record, these fungi were seen on at the Dairy Farm Nature Reserve along the road leading to the Wallace Education Centre as well as along the Wallace Trail.

Hard fungi grow on a dead tree trunk

 

Different from the first few found, this one with the yellow edge, also grow on a dead tree trunk

This two white fungi on the left look very fresh, they are also hardy type, grow on a fallen tree trunk.

 

 

 

Photos taken at the Dairy Farm Nature Reserve

Little whiite flowers in bonsai

Carmona Microphylla, most known in its common name Fukien tea, it is a great material for bonsai. With naturally small leaves and even more beautiful small white flowers the tree is loved by bonsai lovers all around the world.

 

Linking to White Wednesday and More macro flowers here

Orange amaryllis

The flower from the same pot of my pink amaryllis, It is a surprise for me. I think there was a different species planted together in the same pot.
My linking to ABC Wednesday: O for Orange amaryllis.

Fungi: beautiful flowers

Beautiful flowers like fungi on the tree trunk

Fungi at MacRitchie Reservoir Nature Trail

They are found on forest undergrowth, and some are on
dead tree trunks, like shown in the photo below:

The hardy black fungus, looks like "Ling Zhi"

The tiny fungi, like those sea shell, with bright brown color shown below, on a live tree trunk.

Another big mushroom found on undergrowth, it is white and looks like editable. :)

All photos taken during a walk along the MacRitchie Reservoir Nature Trail in Singapore.

Nature note Thursday

ABC Wednesday-N for noni fruit

This is one of the common plants in Singapore, often seen especially in areas where kampongs (villages) used to be, and in the garden of many people's house. The tree have shiny leaves and will flower throughout the year, the flowers are tiny in white, it will
produce a multiple fruit that appears as an individual (like a pineapple). The fruit itself is ovoid and turns from green to a translucent white when fully ripe, with kind of odd smell. I was told the fruit can be cooked with curry, the seeds are edible when roasted. As written in a lot of article, the fruit contains many different nutrients and phytochemicals, were claimed that noni is the most important of the herbs used in medicine, however I am not the expert and only know the name of "noni juice." But I am curious why
Old Chinese people call this tree as "Dumb tree" in Hokkien, I am not sure where the name came from, any story behind it?

Linking to ABC Wednesday

Another Common Red Ginger Flower

ABC Wednesday-M for Melastoma

Melastoma malabathricum is the Scientific name, also called Senduduk, Straits Rhododendron is common name, Chinese name: 野牡丹

This is one kind of common plant in Singapore, growing wild in the nature reserves, on wasteland,   roadside and other open wild places, including coastal areas. It has two varieties purple and white flower, Purple flowers plant is the most common variety. 

You can see from the picture left and below, the flowers are purplish-pink, some are  dark purple, about 5-7cm,  showy, 3-7 flowers growing at the end of a branch, opens only for one day, open at about 7 plus in the morning and close in the  afternoon around 5pm, the petals falling off a few days later.

...Its flowers attract butterflies, and its leaves host caterpillars.

 ...a close up photo of the white flower, picture was taken in Macritchie reservoir park. The white flower is even more useful, it has been used by many traditional medicine practitioners as a cure in spiritually challenge environment.

...stems reddish and covered with bristly scales. The petals emerge from a cup-shaped calyx which remains after the flowers drop off. I was told that the leaves would stop any bleeding and accelerate the healing process. Of course there are many more others medical use of this wild plant.

The fruits are berry-like in very dark red color, almost black....The seeds stain the place where it is.

It provides abundant food to birds, and other small mammals like squirrels and monkeys. I believe it is sweet.

Nerium indicum

Nerium indicum (夹竹桃), is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the dogbane family Apocynaceae, toxic in all its parts. Nerium oleander has historically been considered a poisonous plant based on a number of its compounds that may exhibit toxicity, especially to animals, when consumed in high amounts.

The flowers include snowy white color, light pink and bright hot pink, it looks like bigger version of cherry blossom. Although it is a poisonous plant containing various active toxins but has been used externally for ailments. Plus Oleander is a large fast growing evergreen shrub, it is now a very popular choice for semi tropical landscapes.