PSEUDOGYNOXYS CHENOPODIOIDES

I know I keep posting the same plants over and over again but sometimes when I see them, their alluring beauty is too hard for me to resist.

So here are photos of the Mexican Flame Vine (Family: Asteraceae/Compositae) at the garden. I have always been enthralled by some of the compositae flowers such as the Echinacea and this vine with orangey-scarlet ray and disc florets are remarkably eye-catching.

AGERATUM & BUTTERFLIES

Before I continue, I must confess that these photos are all not taken by me but by a colleague. Anyway, I am posting them here to showcase one of my favourite wildflowers Ageratum conyzoides (Family: Asteraceae / Compositae) as well as the numerous butterflies feeding on the fresh nectar of its newly bloomed flowers.

It is amazing that within a 3 m stretch, there are at least 15 butterflies from the Nymphalidae Family - Plain Tiger, Blue Glassy Tiger, Common Tiger and Striped Blue Crow.

FLOWER DOME - AUSTRALIA AND SOUTH AMERICA

After the Baobab Village are the Australian and South American gardens stops, although most of the plant photos shown here are from the former:

• Anigozanthos cultivar (Common Name: Kangaroo Paw; Family: Haemodoraceae)
• Callistemon (Common Name: Crimson Bottlebrush; Family: Myrtaceae)
• Xanthorrhoea australis (Common Name: Grass Tree; Family: Xanthorrhoeaceae)
• Jacobaea maritima (Synonym: Senecio cineraria, Senecio maritimus; Common Name: Silver Ragwort, Dusty Miller; Family: Asteraceae / Compositae)
• Nicotiana cultivar (Family: Solanaceae)
• Araucaria araucana (Common Name: Monkey Puzzle Tree; Family: Araucariaceae)
• Grevillea brevifolia graft (Common Name: Cobberas Grevillea; Family: Proteaceae) 

FLOWER DOME - ENTRANCE PATHWAYS

Visitors are greeted with an array of flowers from the entire colour palette on the screens upon entering the Flower Dome. 

Upon turning right towards the Baobab Village, there are lots of beautiful flowering plants at eye level because of the raised planters. That is one of the best ways of displaying plants for visitors to be able to see the plants and flowers up close instead of having to bend or squat down if they are planted at ground level.

The numerous Gazania cutlivars, Adenium (Family: Apocynaceae) and yellow flower Senecio macroglossus (Family: Asteraceae / Compositae) are what caught my eye.

CUSCUTA

Cuscuta, which is commonly known as Dodder, is a parasitic plant from the Family Convolvulaceae. Yes, it is hard to imagine that this leafless vine-like looking plant belongs to the same family as the Morning Glory.

Like many other parasitic plants, the Dodder has haustoria that attaches itself onto the branches of its host plants and draws nutrients from it. In fact, this plant has minute scales as leaves and  an interesting life-cycle, which includes flowering and seed setting, like any other angiosperm.

I first saw this parasitic plant in the late 90s growing on and smothering a bed of dwarf Duranta shrubs I planted in front of the Lavender MRT station. I have also seen it growing on the Sphagneticola trilobata (Synonym: Wedelia trilobata, Complaya trilobata, Thelechitonia trilobata, Silphium trilobatum; Family: Asteraceae / Compositae). The only way to get rid of this parasite is not to pull it off the host plant because its remaining haustoria on the host plant is more than capable of regenerating the parasitic plant, but rather to prune the host plant back significantly to remove any remnants of the parasite. In extreme cases, the entire host plant may have to be removed and discarded and the plant replaced with a non-host species.

OLD AND NEW

Darling, I am sorry I have to let you down and let you go. I noticed that you have been unhappy but you are not the problem. You have been excellent and have given me lots of excitement and joy when we were together. The problem lies with me. I just don't think I have the house and the means to provide for you anymore. I realized this recently and think I have found you a better place to be.

Just like the many others before you, you are the old one and I have found another new one who is better, who can probably give me more happiness than you. Let me introduce you Strophanthus preussii to Ipomoea tricolor from Mexico, who has taken over your place in my plant container. Before you were Quisqualis indica, Mirabilis jalapa, Lonicera, and you were all my favourites at some point. Sadly, all of you were very demanding in your nutrient needs and my miserable plant container could not sustain you in a healthy condition. You were often showing symptoms of nutrient deficiency that I could not correct, so I have to transplant you somewhere where I think you will have all the space and nutrients necessary to grow optimally, just like the one I grew in HortPark that climbed at least 6 m up the Parinari corymbosa (synonym: Maranthes corymbosa; Family: Chrysobalanaceae) tree.

On a separate note, let me introduce another new member of my plant collection the variegated Gynura aurantiaca (common name: Purple Passion Plant, Purple Velvet Plant; Family: Asteraceae/Compositae) from Java. This is not the first time I have this plant and I simply love this plant for its velvety purple colour and texture and serrated leaves. It's amazingly beautiful and I definitely hope it survives this time.

COMMON GRASS YELLOW

There were a few Common Grass Yellow butterflies flitting from flower to flower of the Sphagneticola trilobata (synonym: Thelechitonia trilobata; common name: Rabbit's Paw, Trailing Daisy, Creeping Ox-eye; Family: Asteraceae/Compositae) in front of North Bridge Road's Funan Centre.

The groundcover is more commonly known by its synonym Wedelia trilobata. Anyway, it took me a while to capture these few photos. The proboscis (straw-like mouthpart) can be seen sticking into the florets at the center of the flower.

A few links on the groundcover are attached below:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphagneticola_trilobata
2. http://www.floridata.com/ref/w/wedelia.cfm
3. http://www.tropilab.com/yellowdots.html