Fahrenheit minus 459

M. Malabathricum var alba

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 06:34:00 +0000

Spotted the 'white' version Malabathricum var alba of the lookalike sendudok in my in law's neighbour potted plants. The deep furrowed leaf veins is a giveaway to Melastoma sp. - .

SBG - December 06 '09

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 09:49:00 +0000

Near the entrance to SBG I noticed this fruiting palm.

Shot at a distance using a borrowed mirror lens - hand held 500mm f8.0

I found this 'noisy' fella on the tree trunk - he sounded like this-> sound .
I approached it slowly, touched it and was gone.The sound spectrum of this cicada reproduced below.

Smooth and peeling barks of Syzygium gratum

Waiting for the next 'burst'.

Cascading waterfall... adding the much needed humidity to the surround trees.

.... Nipah fruits on the right

This is one of the BEST decorated trees.
Can you name the fruits , seed pods used there?

Another closer look of the 'decoration'.

The traditional Xmas trees lining the road ..

more..

and more..

Noticed this flowerly patterns

Vertical submarine - planting Shadows @ SBG

Unnoticed and unwanted ..

Aged.
- from our potted promenade tree

Amazonia in Singapore - Experience Amazonia right at ur doorstep

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 10:14:00 +0000

Amazonia in Singapore ( 20 - 30 November 2009) Free admission.

It was Sunday Nov 29 .. looking for a place to get some materials for my blog. Then i came across Amazonia in Singapore 2nd last day @ City Hall Building basement. Sat through the interesting 1/2 hr movie.

Even the six-legged had bird-like plumes

Grating board

Golden Grass Capim Dourado ear ring Necklace with 'inorganic' (minerals) and 'organic' design..

The long arrows for shooting fish in shallow streams
.... matched with a simple bow the foto of which i didnt take.

Calabash fruit - I once saw a tree laden with big round fruits near Penang Hill. Read the description below for more information.

Nuts all sort of nuts .. few familiar faces here. ( spot the big monkey pot, Lecythis ollaria - pollinated by carpenter bees, and the rubber 'seed'. You can find them in our SBG)

Didn't realize there is a ID chart there till i saw this picture.
Should have read it. Note the famous red pea with black dot there.
Brazil nut shell used as vessel.
The camera's battery ran flat just
when i wanted to take another
interesting little tiny boxes arrangement from another exhibition...

On way back saw Npark people trying to remove the remaining stump of chainsaw felled 'largest' saga tree near MRT Exit St. Andrew Church. My memory still fresh from the Amazonia movie showing the scene of a fallen primary forest trunk..

Bukit Batok - Town Park & Nature Reserve

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:06:00 +0000

'Little Guilin' - near Bukit Gombak MRT

Banyan roots engulfed this rock.

I looked around, the only potential of falling fruits is from the terap tree nearby. They have another sign specifically for durians

The Town Park is just 5 minutes walk from Bukit Gombak MRT.. you can also walk to the Nature Reserve after visiting this little park.

Transmitting tower at Bukit Batok Nature Reserve..

The Humanoid figure at the right.. look at the cliff face with dark/black rocks.

Figs shot from the side of the straight up tree trunk.

Was attracted to the mirror reflection of the bird
nest fern on the cliff only but decided to add human element..

Reflections again - note there is a slanted groove
chiseled out from the relatively light color rocks

Two branch-off tendrils near the base
of the leaf ready to be uncoiled and reached out for nearby support.

Reddish seeds still intacted ..

Memorial at Bukit Batok Nature Reserve

Mosses carpetted the rock faces

Tree fern's coiled head .. reminded me of the baku and bilins from sarawak..

Near the quarry water edges ... found pink eggs..

Twins white cups of flowers.. then the anglers reminded us to be careful about snakes!

Sempoh air's - its the serpen-like 'forked tongues' that attracted me

Miri - 'Lite'

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:24:00 +0000

The remaining shots from either the EOS camera or some shots worth adding in from the 400+
Tampoi

Pisang Sabah .. the young lady told me the name of the big ones on the lower left

Pantu Waterfall, Lambir Hill National Park

Trace fossils embedded in the sandstone

Tg Lubang - the 'hole' in the cliff in the distant.

( we used to cycle to near the big boulders near the lubang on low tide)
This is a good place for watching
the pounding waves in early morning or watching the sun set in the evening.

Terap in the foreground and Mawang mangoes at the back

Lambir Hill National Park - 'white' trail

Visitors' Information Centre opposite Tamu Muhibbah Market.

Unmistakenly the King of fruits - Durians - creamy white vs orange red flesh

Wood knot ?
but actually sand stone with embedded Iron(Fe III) oxide formation

Lambir Hills National park, Miri, SWK ( 25-10-2009)

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:59:00 +0000

Sharp eye Sindy found a cicada on the tree trunk. It looked a bit strange to me, the color wasnt the usual dark brown or blackish. To check whether this is alive or not i gave it a gentle poke. Expecting a living one to make a sound instead the whole empty shell flew away and the startled Sindy screamed! The background cicadas chorus continued without the slightest pause.

After paying the $10 Ringgit entrace fee,

we took the beginning trek situated on the right hand side of the HQ's building.

Neatly pleated vines
Leaf- littered forest floor.
The unusual high vertical steps climbing the stairs difficult.

Abandoned tree tower

On the RED trail ( all trails are color coded for easy ID)

Peeling bark

Keep walking.... yellow/red track

Wing seeds

A shaft of sunlight hits on a germinating wing seed

Leaf-less tiny branch attached with single large fruit.

Pantu Waterfall during the 'dry' season.

Nibong Waterfall.
Note the slanted silver stream like structure is actually a tree trunk giving the illusion of a slanted
water stream.
The actual stream is on the left of the structure.

A larger 'load' attached with bi-wings

Multiple-lobbed wing seeds

Unknown red shoot or rhizome
?

fallen fruit

Coffee colored fungus

Shorea sp wing seeds

Fallen fruits

This black millipede is half a foot long.

Brightly colored seed pods

Buttressed root carpeted with lichen/moss.

Freshly fallen vs a germinated wing seed

Latak Waterfall - 25 m high with deep plunged pool. All the waterfalls should be spectacular in rainy season.

Waterfall 1 ~ 15 minutes away from HQ

Oil City - Miri , Sarawak

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:21:00 +0000

Miri being so close to sea suffer from 'accelerated rusting' process due to the salt laden atmosphere. Note the heavily rusted screws in this door handle in Sea Horse Balinese Restaurant.

In my effort of crossing the field to have a close look of the parasitic ' orange-yellow' threads like creeper.. my track shoes picked up the prickly grass seeds
I knew about this parasitic in Miri since my secondary school days in the 70s. Saw them at the narrowest width of the Peninsula - the Golf course side. Now you can find them on the waste reclaimed land in and around marina - Sea Horse area. 30 years later i found them in Admiralty Park Singapore!!

Taman Selera or Tg Lubang Beach. The 'hole' in the cliff gives rise to the original name.

Trace fossils ( burrows made by ancient marine worms?)

I was standing on the sandstone cliff -3 or 4 man height and saw the incoming tides cutoff my path to reach the 'Lubang' further away

Life after people... plants regaining the world?

I saw numerous cars - at least 30-40 parked parked close to Canada Hill Petroleum Museum. It was closed for renovation but all these folks had gone there for trekking exercises. WS and me followed suit on Saturday. One hour after finishing three trails were enough to deplete all my energy. Some sections were really steep and required nylon ropes with well placed knots to navigate - a good warm up for my Sunday Lambir National park trekking. We also saw K9 teams gathering that Saturday - even the dogs can handle these demanding tracks! Amazing! I met another classmate there as well.

Figs fruits grow very close to the ground.

Trying to do vertical climb without the help of rope?

I took a walk up the '7 oil well road' from Mega Hotel trying to reenact my primary school cycling track up the hill. The route take me past the Handicraft Centre, my Primary North School crossed the high way and up the hill. It was hot and i am the only one seen walking up the slope.

I found the familiar 'Lover- in- the mist's' flower near the road side..

and a little distance I came across the road with a 'U' depression.
saw spiky red fruits of screw pine.
And i noticed branches of Flame Lilies a short distance later. .

Flame lilies found on the way to Petroleum Museum, Canada Hill.
Note the whole petals turned 100% red when matured.

The seed capsule of F. Lily

Handicraft Centre Miri ( was Dewan Masyrakat, back in the 60s
Primary North School use this for school events and i went on stage to deliver a story telling speech 1969). Interesting souvenirs include bead works, blow pipe of various length, wooden masks etc. One proprietor i spoken was my secondary schoolmate - a year junior then me but we never met.

The Grand Old lady - Oil well #1 ( rebuild)

Note on the right hand side of the above image, three the 'see-through' globe shaped bulb where most of the unwanted and wasted illumination will be directed sky-ward. * The whole place is brightly lit at night - visible from downtown Miri.

Taman Awam Miri @night
Sea Horse Light House - on reclaimed land. The Miri river was 'chopped' and diverted
Legumes flowers
Taman Selera

the pakul fern shoots so common in the native market here... edible mushrooms, the common long bean, 'mali' vegetable at the back. Do you remember this foto resembled the one you took? PQ?

Mawang ( Mangifera pajang) again - I managed to find big ziplock baggs in Miri so i can safetly check-in these strong smell mango and brought it home. $4-5 Ringit per fruit.
(Taste of Mawang updated Oct 31: The taste is sweet like mango but with a very heavy smell. I brought back two. The first one i peeled like the photo above but ended up with so many thick fibres. The second one i did the normal way. Sliced longitudinal close to the seed then cut the flesh into meshes. Perhaps i need to wipe the knife after cutting through the thick outer skin - the invisible sticky latex lingered around my lips and on my fingers.) BE CAREFUL of the sticky latex from thick skin - it can caused lesion around the lips

The nenek told me the bark is scrapped off, pound and use as shampoo.
It was called ' langiew?'

Love the way they carved out the skin to show-case the interior.

bilin, milin or midin - ferns shoots - a popular vegetable dish found only in this part of the world.
Was told you cant keep the hand plucked bilin from the wild for long - it will turned black.

" apa nama itu?" i asked. Dabai (Canarium odontophyllum) came the answer - I fished out a pen and scribbled the name of this fruit Dabai on my palm. To eat this olive-like berries, soak them in hot water ( not boiling water) for half an hour. Add salt to taste. If you have further comments or update appreciate your inputs!!

Terap in front and chempetak at the back

Taste of Terap: I bought a not too ripe terap and managed to get this check in. It survived the trip. Two days later - it had ripened. To open just use hands to tear the bristle-like outer skin. Pluck a handful of the white sweat seeds, spit out the seeds and shallow the 'cooling' flesh. There are two types - tiny seed vs a large seed. ( wonder is there a way to tell the difference?) i was told the one i bought is big seeded and it ended up as the small one. You cant keep the terap after open - it will be oxidized and turned brownish black. October seems to be the season i see plenty of them in Tamu, near the fish market temple and even in vegetable market.

Canon balls - the mawang mangoesThis is a big mawang mango (Mangifera pajang) and sweet too! This one costs $2 Ringgit cheaper than those i asked in Tamu Muhihab - the native market opposite Tourists' Information Centre.

Se tompok $10 Ringgit - One bundle or one heap ...

Dairy Farm Nature Park - Sep 7 '09

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 08:41:00 +0000

Concrete water holders. near Wallace Education Centre..

Fungus found on rotted wood

- the jelly like yellow Calocera viscosa

and the tough orange red cup like polypollea below

Using my palm to get a better contrast ..

of this veil-like sedge ( grass?) dotted with

dark purplish tiny tiny flowers

this grasshopper still sat there on my return trip .. guess what were she doing?

One of the exhibits in Wallace Education Centre...
read E.J.H Corner's handwritten letter dated 1940s!

These 'spiky-balls' caught my attention..

A brand new park so even the barriers are new ...

'match'-stick like barriers

i Sprouted! - the will to grow!

'Tranformer room?' overgrown with vegetation. Note the side ventilation holes

one of the several granite blocks ..looked heavy.

Depends which way you pick - Singapore Quarry or Wallace Education Centre.

There is no link between the two - so you need to backtrack to reach the other!

You will find plenty of thorny vine of Rose Cactus

near Wallace Education Centre.

See the 'chopped' ends below

CLICK above image to have a closer look of the Singapore Quarry.

Been to Ubin, Bukit Batok or nearby Bukit Timah?

Singapore Quarry.

how many hands do you need to unroot..

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:37:00 +0000

This 'fig' tree was just opposite my meteor detection window block, courtesy of the feathered friend in dispersal of fig seeds a long time ago .I literally watch it grew from tiny branches into this present size.

Nutmeg - Ion Nutmeg vs the Real Nutmeg

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 10:20:00 +0000

Ion Orchard Nutmeg (above) vs the real Nutmeg, Myristica fragans (below)

A spider on the reddish Eucalyptus Globule trunk

Pollinators will enjoy a cushioned brush. Cannon ball flowers

SBG 11- Jul -09

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 07:15:00 +0000

Sat 11/7 it rained a bit in the early morning
and inside the rain forest walkway the cicada was silent.
Later I noticed seeds were germinating, peeped into the "Germination Experiment in progress"
fenced up area and looked up a tall majestic Alstonia or pulai -
trying to mimic same cover page look on Corner's " Wayside trees of Malaya".
Buttressed Marsh Pulai, Alstonia pheumatophora, a lightning conductor wire runs along the trunk.

Germinating 'Bum', Coco de Mer - the world largest nut , weighs up to 18 KG

Germinating dicot seed.

The 'hairs' caught my attention

Eucalyptus fruit capsules & CP995

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:28:00 +0000

A big branch of the Red River Gum tree, Eucalyptus camaldulensis succumbed to the over night wind/rain.. and fell next to the coffee shop. I picked up two clusters of fruits and forgotten about them. A few days later the fruit captures dried up, split and released tiny tiny yellow seeds. I propped one against the window sill and the other on my desk imaged using my old Nikon CP995.

'Spin-tops' shaped fruit capsule (~ 5mm diameter,4 chambers, unopened)
You could use a pair for ear pins ..

ACM - June 27 2009

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:39:00 +0000

It was in the TV news Friday 26/6 evening on the extension of the free after 5pm admission on Sat. After dinner i decided to go look. Wah.. the queue was long. I killed some time drafting my last trip report on my E71 as well as being 'entertained' by a couple and their teenage daughter lively conversations.

Luckily the night was not too warm. I started my queue around 8:30pm ( and reached the exhibition hall 10:15pm) I asked the usher whether there will be another free admission on the 28th. He was tired after standing for more than 12 hours.

... and from inside. More queue further up. Imaging those parents with prams and the senior citizen stuck in the stairway's upward traffic jam.

But once you are inside the 2nd storey exhibition hall, there are amble room for you to browse the items on displayed. I saw interesting 12- digit calcular, printed mathematics table, sighting telescope with alt/azimuth , sextants globe, Emperor's dress or 'long pao', KangXi's calligraphy , pottery, the 'abridged' long scroll depicting images of KX's 60th birthday celebration.

( the actual one was 80 metre in length!) . Interesting comment over heard like - " wah so dark and dim inside - everything is a blurry to me cant see properly" .. and exciting visitors from China relating to their kids of familar places back home.

It was a night well spent. The queue was still there around 11pm.. ( imagesof the queue was taken before i left the place)

Tg Sutera (Johore) Trip - June 15-17 '09

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:26:00 +0000

The rocky shore off Tg Sutera Resort.

Jambu air or Water Apple ( Syzygium aqueum)

Lontong

Pebbles, pebbles ( quartize pebble) everywhere Quartized rock that resembles a heart

A moth spreading the wing like F117 stealth plane

While others were busy buying fruits , I dashed over the other side of the fields and did a few quick fotos of passion fruit's flower

and the Dragon fruit .. from the Desaru fruit farm.

Sea bat lily or Tacca leontopetaloides growing under the shade of sea- almonds.
This one had very different leaves structure than
the normal bat lily we found on Bukit Timah Reserve.

Melastoma malabathricum or Straits Rhododendron a common wasteland plants.

Wild boar's (?) wallow seen on our forest trails

Sea Lettuce( Ambong-ambong) or Scaevola sericea's flowers the stigma reminds me of
H.G. Well's War of the World invading machines.

Pandanus odoratissimus or Common Seashore Screw pine (Pandan). I saw squirrels nibbling at the fruits.

Padina Mermaid's Fan ( A brown algae) -
noted the characteristics of the banded fronds

Sea cucumber **

The 'gut' of this creature can be seen through the semi transparent 'sac'.

Frilly anemones, Phymanthus sp **.
Another one at dried land try to dig in and throw up a circular fountain of water when disturbed

Rock formation of Tg Sutera Fruits of Oil palm and you can eat it ( see below)

A fallen bread fruit, Artocarpus altilis on our Kampong walk.

Would be a nice breadfruit snack to go down with Tiger Beer

Bright color of a kampung house

While others were focusing on taking the bright red flowers above
i was attracted to the unusual 'funnel'-shaped fruit of Pereskia bleo or Rose Cactus.

Love-in-a mist , Passiflora foetida
One of my childhood edible bush berries ( orange when fully ripe)

Fruits / Seeds washed up on the shorePong Pong , Cerbera odollam

Xylocarpus granatum**

Nipah palm fruits, fossiled version or nipadites exists else where.

Box fruit of Putat Laut or Barringtonia asiatica for making fish poison

and the unmistakably coconut

Group Members' fotos here: Vimala's , Juliana's , Marijn's

**Thanks to Ria Tan for the IDs of seashore creature and the spilled out seed fruit

SBG - June 13 '09

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 12:01:00 +0000

Sterculia coccinea's bright orange fruit pot
- one seed left still attached to the centre right cluster

Raindrops on Ficus kurzii @ Swan Lake

Well shielded ...

SBG - 30th May '09

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Sat, 30 May 2009 08:45:00 +0000

Saw a bunch of fruits at the branches. Picked up a few and heel crushed one to see the inside. Looked delicious...

It was raining Ceiba pentandra 'kapok' @SBG .. the fields were fulled of the pillow-case stuffing softies.. WATCH the Video here

Finally i found a low branch and touched this giant 'nut' of Lecythis ollaria

Arm chair meteorite 'prospecting'

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:19:00 +0000

DIY meteorite classification using O. Richard Norton's Field Guide to Meteors and Meteorites.

SBG's NOG - National Orchid Garden May 16 '09

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Sat, 16 May 2009 08:27:00 +0000

Tiny orchid ..

A frog took refuge from the elements between leaves.

Look to me an odd and unnatural combination of colors

Straw colored and chocholate - white petals..

A beauty this one Bulbophyllum echinolabium
- remind me of a deep sea creature

Young pitcher plant with unopen 'lid' @ Cool house

'Nail -like' tip of a bromeliad leaf

A male flower ..ready to discharge the load.

What is the time?
My watch says 10:19 and
the shadow in the sundial is
between X and XI pretty close isnt it?

Some come with twisted petals...

Removal of pollinia (yellow dots)
and
insert into the female stigma situated directly underneath

Hibiscus Sabdariffa or Rosellel . I saw these in
NTUC supermarket.

Aerial root tip of a monopodial orchid

CP5100 focusing is 'touch and go'..
shot from a reachable flower
Dillenia philippinensis , Philippines Simpoh
- the tree version of sempoh air.

SGB - Rain Forest Walk May 9 '09 ( Vesak Day)

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Sat, 09 May 2009 06:32:00 +0000

HAPPY MOTHER's DAY .. May 10 tomorrow

Spiny rattan , Myrialepis paradoxa

Rabbit's foot Fern

Clam- shell like Cola gigantea fruit ( above & below)

Ficus destruens from Queensland Australia

Surprise to find mangosteen - dont you think they looked like
a pair of old fashioned alarm clocks? See my other images.

Failed ( sterile?) Tarap
Artocarpus odoratissimus fruit.
Another find in Fork canning
from a year ago.
A common tasty
( sweet white fresh creamy,
multiple seeds. Boiled seeds are edible too )
exotic local fruit found
in Borneo - Sabah/Sarawak. My personal favorite too.
Mature fruit ~ 7 inch diameter

Cycad 'bud' clinging onto the main stem

Sempoh air , national flower of Brunei

A 1 Metre in diameter 'Flower'!

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Tue, 05 May 2009 09:22:00 +0000

My fellow nature lover Ms AO send me
this pic taken from her recent trip to North Borneo, Sabah.
Rafflesia with a diameter of 1 metre!!!!!
and added "... it grows in the wild but the local people take care of it "
ITs a parasitic fungus - not really a flower by definition.

SGB - Edible / medicinal Plants tour may 2 '2009

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Sat, 02 May 2009 08:27:00 +0000

Ochanostachys amentacea, Petaling tree and its uses

I held the 'blue' ginger pretty flower close
before i ate it - stamen, petals and all.
Well the other ginger flowers were used in rojak so ..

Fallen fruit of Cola gigantea ( Giant Cola) picked clean by birds?
Below - At least x2 fruit spotted up in the tree.Mr Nelson Mandela planted this Cola gigantem in SBG.

Nutmeg fruit just barely reachable from my P5100 limited zoom.

I picked up a block of white crystallized
camphor and stuck it to the bark of Dryobalanops aromatica.
The soft block had a strong aromatic turpentine
smell ... enough to clear blocked nose perhaps.

Not far from the tree, picked up helicopter-like wing seed of Dryobalanops aromatica.
( All Dryobalanops sp had 5-lobed wings)

SBG - morning walk 25/04 Evo Garden

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 06:47:00 +0000

A great day for a walk in SBG

Cycas rumphill showing the partial female cone Shot this under the shade of the Cycas rumphii Equisetum hyemate , horsetail or Souring Rush - a fern ally.
Dia. around 1 mm
The stem is tubular and much reduced tooth-like leaves
( click image above to have a closer look)and felt empty when squeezed.
Giant horsetail was found " in Canelos, Ecuador 20 ft tall and stem as thick as wrist "

In the shade this Spikemoss Selaginella [ fern-ally]
or Peacock fern leaves took on a metallic blue iridescence appearance.
The phenomena is caused by thin films interference on upper epidermis which reflect more blue light and transmit more red. In full light environment these layers were absent.

Thanks to Keith and Catherine for the informative introduction to the Evo Garden
ancient plants like Cycads, coniferous, ferns.
The common
easily available
way-side trees gnetales ( belinjau) is missing here.

Surprise findings in our aircon housing

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:41:00 +0000

Slabs of honeycomb hidden between the master room cabinets and the aircon opening. ... Pest control folks were called in..

Red leaves

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:13:00 +0000

Sea almond leaves turned orange-red
Recent hot and heavy showers had triggered mempat to shed leaves and sprouting dark reddish new leaves and pink / white flowers - the Singapore version of the ' cherry blossom'

One more to go ...

noreply@blogger.com (darkmatter) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:03:00 +0000