Indonesia: Seloliman Nature Reserve; East Java

After breakfast at Minggu, we left our cabins to begin a two and a half hour walk around the Nature Reserve guided by the head guy. I was more than happy to have extra time in this delightful area, time to photograph more of the plants. As I don’t live in the tropics, many of the plants and their flowers were new to me… all rather exotic. Any help with the identity of those marked as ‘unknown’ is welcome?

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A sleepy volcano created a wonderful backdrop to the resort.

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Some of the plants were quite common in the gardens that we visited, like this one, the Peacock Flower, (Caesalpinia pulcherrima)… here in close up, a single flower.

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Also in close up, in all its crinkly beauty, is the previously seen Crepe or Malay Ginger (Costus speciosus) with its ballerina like tutu petals.

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This dragonfly was flirting around a small ornamental pond.  Thankfully, it settled long enough for this photo. What a beauty it is!

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Perhaps, the dragonfly wanted to take a longer look at this waterlily, as did I.

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Bleeding Heart (Clerodendrum thomsoniae) comes from Central Western Africa but is grown in many parts of the tropics.

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Droplets of water clinging to a waxy leaf.

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Unknown. Just one of the many that I hadn’t seen before.

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A well camouflaged caterpillar eating its way through the leaves of its food plant. It was close to 10 cm. (4 ins.) in length.

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An unknown member of the ginger family.

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A whorl of spiralled leaves.

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More raindrops on a waxy leaf.

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This leaf has delightful symmetry and texture.  However, some chewing insect decided to upset the balance.

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A large, female spider sits on her silky web while her diminutive suitors look over her larder.  They, no doubt, had other things on their mind, but we know what happens then!

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Unknown… but superb don’t you think?.

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Another unknown but delightful flower.

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The deeply fringed petals of this (Hibiscus schizopetalus) lead to its name.  The species name translates to “cut petals”.  It originates in tropical eastern Africa.

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The trellis supports a vine producing very large passion fruit.

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Unknown to me… but it must have a common name referring to a leopard!

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And yet another plant unknown to me.

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A St Joseph’s spider showing its knobbly yellow ‘knees’.

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I don’t think this spider bites but it looks as though it would at the first opportunity.

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At the conclusion of the tour around the grounds of the resort, we crossed a road and headed off along some paddy bunds to a nearby village… but more of that anon.

David

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