CALABASH & AXONOPUS

Crescentia cujete

There are two species of Crescentia in the Supertree Grove - the C. cujete (Common Name: Calabash Tree) and the unusual C. alata (Common Name: Mexican Calabash Tree) with strikingly shaped and coloured flowers typical of the Bignoniaceae Family.

the variegated Axonopus that is spreading

floor littered with beautiful blooms from C. alata

close-up of the C. alata flowers

WHITE FLOWERS

It is not easy to grow coffee plants here and these are saplings of Coffea arabica (Common Name: Mountain Coffee, Arabica Coffee; Family: Rubiaceae) from the Ixora family.

The second is a white flower Thunbergia grandiflora (Common Name: White Trumpet Vine; Family: Bignoniaceae).

They are both found in the Colonial Garden.

CAMPSIS RADICANS

Frankly, I didn't know that we can grow the Campsis radicans (Synonym: Tecoma radicans; Common Name: Trumpet Vine, Trumpet Honeysuckle; Family: Bignoniaceae) in our outdoors here. But we don't try, we would never know right?

Just about 3 months ago, I saw an entire wall of Campsis in Europe.

MORNING GLORY

This photo is taken for the benefit of someone who commented on the rarity of seeing this plant nowadays. 


So here it is, a photo of this beautiful climbing weed, with short-lived purple trumpet flowers and palmate leaves, taken at the undeveloped site between Bay East and the Marina Barrage.


In fact, this is the first plant species that I propagated when I was young. I literally took a cutting of it from my primary school and stuck it into the soil from one of my mother's potted plants and viola, it grew into a new plant. That was also when I learnt that the ephemeral flowers only last a day before it shrivel into a small inconspicuous mass that is best forgotten. Sadly, I guess part of the reason why this Ipomoea cairica is not a popular ornamental plant is because the leaves are a perfect nest bed for mealy bugs.

BEAUMONTIA

The Herbarium identified this as Beaumontia grandiflora (common name: Herald's Trumpet; Family: Apocynaceae) although I named it as B. jerdoniana in an earlier post. The center or throat of the flower is lime green and I am not sure if this is a distinguishing feature between the different species.

2 links on this species are shown below:

http://www.rareflora.com/beaumontiagran.htm

http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/beaumontia_grandiflora.htm