AQUATIC HABITAT

Today's weather - sunny

The Echinodorus cultivar is one beautiful marginal aquatic plant. The simple 2 or 3- tri-petaled white flowers are relatively big compared to the blue flowers of the Monochoria vaginalis.


But in terms of height, not many can beat the purple flower Thalia dealbata.


A bog garden habitat with lots of aquatic plants is a haven for dragonflies. One thing I learnt about dragonflies is that different species occur in slightly different habitats e.g. open sun areas, shade areas. Isn't that interesting?


As for plants, not many ferns are as big as the Acrostichum aureum. This has always been one of my favourite freshwater ferns because of its pinkish new leaves. With just one of these ferns in water, many more will sprout from this relatively fast growing fern.

MOSS AND SHRIMP

I set up a new mini tank with an aquatic moss and a $5 packet of at least 8-10 shrimps that I bought recently but now I'm left with 3 shrimps. What am I doing wrong here?

AQUATIC

I'm not sure what is the name of this aquatic plant but its leaves are so pretty and remind me of snow flakes. Unfortunately I just killed this wonderful plant recently by pruning off too much of the leaves when it became too leggy. It just rotted thereafter without putting out new leaves.

AQUATIC PLANTS

Recently, I posted about some emergent aquatic plants and this is a continuation of it.

The Eichhornia crassipes (common name: Common Water Hyacinth) from the Pontederiaceae Family is one of my favourite floating plants although it is considered to be an invasive weed that can choke up waterways. In a recent post on the water feature at Pasir Panjang, they used a loop to control the spread of this plant outside the circle. Whether it works or not remains to be seen.

The rounded leaf Hydrocleys nymphoides (common name: Water Poppy) from the Limnocharitaceae or Alismataceae Family is also interesting with its creamy flowers with a beautiful center. In the pot is also the Lemna minor (common name: Common Duckweed) from the Lemnaceae or Araceae Family. Apparently, this plant is the smallest flowering plant and seldom flowers since it can bud vegetatively and so quickly.

The fast growing Azolla caroliniana (common name: Carolina Mosquito Fern) from the Azollaceae Family is another free floating aquatic plant that can spread very quickly under favourable conditions.

Finally, the last 2 photos are of the emersed plant Bacopa caroliniana (synonym: B. amplexicaulis; common name: Lemon Bacopa, Blue Waterhyssop) from the Plantiginaceae Family. The blue flowers are so dainty.

KENT RIDGE PARK

I have not been to Kent Ridge Park for a while. But I was there recently.

They added a cable car cabin as a decor item near one of the carparks. The Platycerium coronarium (common name: Stag's Horn Fern) was so well-established, much like the one I posted at Ophir Road.

It appeared they have also planted out the Grammatophyllum speciosum (common name: Tiger Orchid) on the tree fork.

The view of the sea from the high vantage point was also amazing. This is probably one of the few hills in Singapore where we can get to see the sea, the houses along the coast, the ships and the wharf.

As I trekked along the footpath down to the pond, I saw this beautiful Passiflora (common name: Passion Flower) climbing on the secondary forest vegetation. I do not know the exact species but could it be P. 'Incense', which is a hybrid crossed between P. incarnata and P. cinnicata? A link on the Passion Flower is shown below for reference.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passion_flower

The silhouette of the crown of the Albizia moluccana (synonym: Falcataria moluccana, Paraserianthes falcataria, Albizia falcataria, Adenanthera falcataria; common name: Batai, Bataiwood) against the blue sky was amazing.

Then there were 2 photos of the young White-breasted Waterhen (scientific name: Amauromis phoenicurus) scurrying around from bush to bush, seeking the safety within the dense groves of marginal plants.

There were also abundant dragonflies found in the aquatic habitat environment and one particular one was parasitized by wasp as evident by the dense mass of black eggs on its lower abdomen. But such is the law of nature and order to maintain ecological balance through its intricate food chains and webs.