CDL GREEN GALLERY & CORYPHA

The CDL Green Gallery, Singapore Botanic Garden's Heritage Museum, was officially opened by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on 30 Nov 13. The 'Living in a Garden' exhibition featured the rich history of the 154 years garden and there are a lot interactive displays in the gallery that will entertain the visitors. Outside along the walkway are displayed photographic boards of the gardens taken throughout the decades.

Just nearby is the Corypha umbraculifera which flowered last year after more than 80 years of being planted in the garden. The flowering and fruiting stages are coming to an end soon, which would culminate in the death of the majestic palm.

Boardwalk leading to the entrance

A cut-out of MM Lee Kwan Yew to commemorate his contribution towards Singapore's greening through the decades

The weaved tapestry of the interiorscape mirrors the verdant greenery nationwide

A vision of a wondrous future Singapore

A pink Arundina hybrid?

The end stages of the fruiting Corypha

A close-up of the infrutescences

CORYPHA UMBRACULIFERA

From afar, I noticed the developing inflorescence atop this majestic palm, that I was told was planted in the early 1920s. 

Commonly known as the Talipot Palm (Family: Arecaceae / Palmae), this amazing palm from Sri Lanka and southern India has the largest inflorescence of any living plant and flowers and fruits only once in its lifetime. Upon pollination, the round fruits take about a year to mature and contain only a single seed. After the fruiting process ends, the palm dies soon after. Apparently, the flowering and fruiting processes are so energy demanding that the plant can only afford to do it once.

I remember the last time I heard about this remarkable phenomenon happening in the Singapore Botanic Gardens was in 2004-2005 although the fruiting wasn't as spectacular as documented perhaps because there were sufficient pollinators here. Well, we now have about a year to observe this palm and see how the flowers develop into fruits before it all dies down to ashes. This is definitely a must see event for the plant kingdom.