Thursday, December 26, 2013

Pasir Ris Park Kitchen Garden

I went to Kitchen Garden in Pasir Ris Park last day, surprisingly found my favourite fruit Amla plants, which is in Chinese call 餘甘子, or 油甘。Actually I am not that sure of this plant when I only see the unripe fruit, until one of an India guy from FB confirmed the plant's name.

Amla pickle is my favourite. Other popular ways to consume this wonderful fruit is in the form of candies, sweets or murabba. I remember I went to Beijing in winter many years ago, everywhere selling "糖葫芦“, they are Amla fruits! 


 
 
Its leaves are feathery, linear oblong in shape and smell like lemon.  It has a gray bark and reddish wood, hard in texture.
 
flower is yellow greenish in colour
The fruit is spherical pale yellow with six vertical furrows.
The mature fruits are hard and do not fall for the gentle touch.
another herb-Honeysuckle,Scientific name : Lonicera japonica
Chinese name: 金银花 is herb tea
金银花又称忍冬花(学名:Lonicera japonica),是忍冬科的一种植物,花称为金银花,常被视作药材或食材使用。
Kitchen Garden is a herb, fruit and vegetable garden indeed. Here I found the lovely passion fruits vine too, full of flowers and fruits.





There are a few of papaya trees here too. One interesting fact about this fruit tree, there male and female tree.
For your papaya tree to bear fruit, you need to know whether you have male or female flowers, both types or perfect flowers on the same tree.

Papaya trees with only male flowers are considered male and will not produce fruit.  Male flowers will look like elongated bells on trumpets. Each male flower will have 10 filaments supporting anthers. These look like long threads topped with fuzzy anthers. You will find the male flowers hanging down from stalks.

Papaya trees with only female flowers are female trees. Female flowers produce papaya fruit after they are pollinated. Female flowers may be white or yellow. They are large in size but short. The ovary should be visible at the base of the flower, giving the flower a stocky appearance. The stamens are very apparent in the middle of the flower, but there are no filaments or anthers.
Some papaya trees have both male and female flowers. These do not require a second tree for pollination, because the male flowers on the tree can pollinate the female flowers on the same tree.


The best papaya tree are those type have perfect flowers, which mean the flowers contain both male and female parts on the same flower. They have a wide, stocky base and are found growing directly from the bases of the leaves, like female flowers, but they produce stamen like male flowers. Trees with these types of flowers do not require a second tree for pollination.


There are many more plants to see in this garden, and I believe there are more things to explore in the park. I have very limited time on that day. PS. Pasir Ris Park, I will come to visit more often in 2014.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The amla plant you posted here is not the indian gooseberry, the real amla.
Gooseberry plant is shrub and forms like a bush with thin laves similar to tamarind tree's.

Kristal Lim said...

The plant with the small pale-green fruits is the Otaheite Gooseberry.