Above: The spinning seed of kapor, Dryobalanops aromatica.
Above: Gondstylus bancanus, or ramin melawis, an important
source of timber from Sumatra. |
February 2005
by Angela Hijjas
- For the first half of February, the weather seemed unusually hot,
dry and hazy. Temperatures in KL reached as high as 38C. In the middle
of the month the weather broke with windy storms in the late afternoons
and night. This morning I walked around the garden looking at broken
branches and just relishing the damp again, when I noticed fallen seeds,
since identified as Dryobalanops aromatica, known in Malay
as kapor. These canopy trees were planted about 12 years ago, and I
am delighted to find that they are fruiting so soon, although I have
lost several of the original row planted along the length of the front
fence to white ants. Ironically, kapor has a strong camphor frangrance
and is preferred for making storage boxes that deter insect attack,
but the tree itself seems particularly vulnerable. The fruits have five
wings that enable the heavy seed to resist falling straight to the ground
under the shade of the parent tree. As happened last night, they were
dislodged from the tree by the wind and carried at least several meters,
although I am unsure which tree produced the fruit. The fruit commences
spinning like a helicopter about 1 meter into the drop, and then falls
more slowly, carried away by the wind.
Above: The huge Grammatophyllum speciosa
with its occasional prolific burst of flowers.
- The Grammatophyllum speciosa is flowering in its pot in full
sun. This is the world's largest orchid plant, seen in high canopy positions
in the forest. The flowers are yellow and brown, so not outstandingly
colourful, but a total of 20 infloresences (stalks) makes up for any
deficiency. Seed pods are forming, so hopefully the wind will deliver
them eventually to new sites for them to colonize naturally. This plant
has flowered once before over the 10 years it has been cultivated, but
never so prolifically.
- The new planting at the back near the tennis court is settling in,
but the previous planting done about two years ago is really starting
to go ahead. I have planted three Gondstylus bancanus, known
in Malay as ramin melawis, in a low-lying position, and they are now
about 5m tall. Native to peatswamps from Perak to west Johor, and in
seasonal swamps in Selangor, southeast Sumatra, and Borneo, ramin timber
is the main variety that has been illegally logged in Sumatra over recent
years and exported through Malaysian ports, although there is now some
effort to contain this trade.
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