Indonesia: Seloliman Nature Reserve; East Java

Jul15

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?

A sleepy volcano created a wonderful backdrop to the resort.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Droplets of water clinging to a waxy leaf.

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

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

An unknown member of the ginger family.

A whorl of spiralled leaves.

More raindrops on a waxy leaf.

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

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!

Unknown… but superb don’t you think?.

Another unknown but delightful flower.

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.

The trellis supports a vine producing very large passion fruit.

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

And yet another plant unknown to me.

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

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

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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Indonesia: Seloliman Resort; Minggu; East Java

Jul13

Our ‘home away from home’ for the next couple of days was Seloliman Resort, an eco styled place with accommodation made up of cabins in a large garden.

After settling into our cabin, my travelling mate Brian and I went for a bit of a wander around the garden, listening to the cicadas and watching multi-coloured butterflies flit from one brilliantly coloured flower to the next. The only down side was that the area also seems to be a Mecca for motocross bike riding. Their noisy exhausts echoed around the hillsides completely destroying the other-wise very peaceful atmosphere of the place. Never mind… there was much in the garden to enjoy and photograph.

The front entrance of Seloliman Resort appeared to be nothing special, but…

… it was a very unusual entrance….through a longish tunnel that had this amazing root growth dangling down from a plant growing above on the roof.

The older roots were beige / white while the new growth was a brilliant pink.

The gardens where the chalets were situated were large and laid out in a very natural way. Grassy and earthen paths wound their way through the lush growth.

Large St Joseph’s spiders spin their webs within the foliage.

The smaller spider is a male. He’s dicing with death as the larger female will devour him after mating! But what has to be done, has to be done, I guess!

Butterfly pea (Clitoria ternatea) has a form relating to its Latin name! It’s an herbaceous perennial found growing in tropical equatorial Asia. It’s been introduced into Africa, Australia and America where it’s grown as an ornamental. It’s also used as a revegetation species in coal mines in Australia. It’s a legume, so it enriches the soil with nitrogen.

This vivid blue flower is the commonly seen colour, compared to the one above. There are also white forms.

Parts of the garden were a tangle of cucurbit vines growing through the vegetation…

A closer look at this delightful flower and it’s pollinator.

This plant could well have a name referring to ‘fairy floss’, but I don’t know what it is.

Heliconia sp., members of the genus are often referred to as Lobster-claw. They are closely related to the banana and are widely grown in the tropics as an ornamental.

Another Heliconia species.

A Hibiscus flower. One of many thousands of horticultural forms bred around the world.

And another one… I really couldn’t decide which one to delete.

I was not familiar with this flower, so…

I photographed the name on the plaque beside it… always a good idea.

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I checked it out on the web when I got home and found it named just as the plaque said, Jatropha podagrica hook. The site, ‘World of Succulents”, gave these notes as an addition to their photograph (left): “a tropical, frost-sensitive, succulent shrub, up to 8 feet (2.4 m) tall (usually up to 3 feet / 90 cm). It has a swollen and knobby, grey-skinned stem (large bottle-like caudex) and green, smooth, waxy leaves, up 12 inches (30 cm) in diameter. The flowers are small, coral-like and bright red in colour.”

English common names for this plant include, wait for it…Buddha Belly (the most common name), Petit Baobab, Bottle Plant Shrub, Gouty-stalked Jatropha, Purging-nut, Guatemalan Rhubarb, Goutystalk Nettlespurge, White Rhubarb, Physicnut, Podagrica, Bali Gout Plant, Tartogo nut, Gouty Foot, Gout plant, Gout Stick, Gout Stalk and last but not least, Coral Plant! So, I’m very thankful that it has but one scientific name.

Selaginella sp.; moss.

Allamanda cathartica, bursting with the colour of sunshine. It’s most common name is Golden Trumpet but it also known as Yellow Alamanda and Alamanda Canario! All parts are poisonous if eaten; its sap causes skin and eye irritation.

A horticultural variety of Anthurium.

A colourful millipede.

A dragon fly taking a rest on a twig. Just look at those wings! So delicate.

Peacock Flower (Caesalpinia pulcherrima), a tree widely grown in the tropics.

This brown frog jumped across my path and sat still long enough to be photographed… and I caught the gleam in its eye! The brown ‘patch’ behind the eye is a thin tympanic membrane, or eardrum, that protects the inner ear cavity and helps to transmit sound vibrations… sounds that are essential for the frog’s survival.

Crepe or Malay ginger (Costus speciosus) occurs throughout Southeast Asia. The name of ‘crepe’ refers to the amazing crinkled crepe effect of the petals.

Angel’s Trumpet (Brugmansia versicolor) is an evergreen tree growing to about 4m in height. Endemic to Ecuador, it belongs to the Solanaceae family and is often found in tropical gardens. However, I’m not too sure why it’s so popular. It’s known that the flowers, leaves, and seeds of Brugmansia are very toxic and even the perfume can cause hallucinations as well as increasing blood pressure, a dry mouth, muscle weakness and paralysis. Since March 2014, this plant has been listed as Extinct in the Wild … so the only place to see it now is in gardens… and it is attractive.

A young tree of Maniltoa sp. that we had seen before at another garden. Finding this tree was a delightful end to a very pleasant walk. More anon.

David

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Thailand: to Mr “Air’s” Homestay near Krabi

May11

We had a restful morning… we didn’t have to have our bags out until 11.00.

After another delicious, freshly prepared Thai meal for lunch we were ready to leave for a two and a half hour private mini-bus transfer to a one night’s home stay at Mr “Air’s” home near the town of Krabi. This promised to be an interesting experience.

We’d been told that all the boys would be in one room together and the ladies would share another room. And another experience to look forward to…the shower was just a large container of water and a dipper. Perhaps, we thought, one night would be enough?

We four boys were ready for anything… well almost for anything! It turned out that we had two rooms to share so we weren’t as crowded as we could have been.

We only had time to throw our bags in the door before we headed off on a guided walk around Mr “Air’s” spread out village. It’s a Muslim village.

I knew not to go too close to these red ants… they pack quite a bite… so I used the tel lens on the camera to make them look much closer to me than they actually were. Discretion is by far the better part of valour.

These pods belong to a tamarind tree, (Tamarindus indica). The tree grows naturally in tropical Africa and is a monotypic taxon, meaning the genus Tamarindus has only one species. The pods contain an edible pulp that is both bitter and sweet at the same time. This pulp is used widely in cuisines around the world. It is also used in traditional medicine and as a metal polish.

These fruits belong to the cashew nut tree (Anacardium occidentale). Once the green fleshy outer coat is removed the familiar shape of a cashew nut is more obvious. The elongated stem above the fruit can be processed into a sweet, astringent fruit drink or distilled to make a liquor. The green coating of the seed can be processed to yield substances that are used as lubricants and in paints.

The cashew tree originally comes from Brazil but the trees are now widely grown in Vietnam, Nigeria and India as a valuable crop.

The tree is very attractive. It produces beautiful rose-coloured scented flowers in panicles, followed by enticing red fruits before the nuts are produced. Cashew nuts are highly nutritious, containing high amounts of vitamin C and are excellent sources of calcium, iron and vitamin B1.

These fruits are called Rose Apples (Syzygium jambos). It grows naturally in Southeast Asia and is cultivated widely elsewhere as an ornamental and fruit tree. Interestingly, it belongs to the Eucalyptus family although it is often confused with being a member of the guava family. The fruit is rich in vitamin C, has a texture similar to a nashi pear and is often eaten with spiced sugar.

The wood is dense and is used in the production of charcoal. The tannins that can be extracted from the tree are showing interesting antimicrobial properties. In some places it is used in traditional medicine.

We met this lady on our walk. She was out collecting herbs for the evening meal.

Beautyberry (Callicarpa sp.) has eye-catching purple berries. A wide-spread genus being found in east and south-east Asia, Australia, Madagascar, south-west North America and South America. Tropical species are evergreen, whereas temperate species are deciduous. The berries last on the plant well and are an important survival food for birds and some animals when more attractive alternatives are no longer available. The highly astringent berries can be made into wine and jam.

Adenium obesum, variously called Mock Azalea, Kudu, Impala Lily and Desert Rose, depending on where it comes from, is native to the Sahel regions, south of the Sahara (from Mauritania and Senegal to Sudan), and tropical and sub-tropical eastern and southern Africa and Arabia. The sap is used as an arrow poison throughout much of Africa and as a fish poison.

A double-flowered form of Adenium obesum.

A wild Ageratum species was growing as a weed on disturbed ground.

A rubber tree plantation.

Mr “Air” showed us how the trees were ‘tapped’ for their white latex.

The delicate white petals of Bauhinia sp.

At this accommodation everyone asked to help in the preparation of the evening meal. Much of the food we were to prepare was freshly picked from the garden.

We chopped and Mrs “Air”collected the prepared pieces to be cooked.

There was plenty of fresh food prepared and ready to cook.

…and more

…and even more.

These chillies went into a mortar and pastel.

The ground up chilli paste was a LITTLE warm!

And then dinner was cooked… thanks to Alif and Mrs “Air”. It was really good.

More anon

David

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Thailand: Morning Mist Resort

Apr29

Our accommodation at the ‘Morning Mist Resort’ was at the edge of the Khao Sok National Park.

We were to stay in small cabins that are scattered around the complex. As I dropped my bag in the room, Number 13, I noticed that there was no AC but there was a fan and mosquito nets were dangling above the beds. Perhaps I could have a good night’s sleep!

I opted to do nothing in the afternoon except explore and enjoy the flowers in the natural tropical gardens that surround the resort. How often, when travelling, do we drop our bags at the place where we’re to stay and not explore its surroundings? We just go off to explore somewhere else. Seems a waste to me.

The main entrance to the Morning Mist Resort, rather rustic, very tropical.

Red Passion-flower (Passiflora coccinea). This plant is a native of the Amazon Basin but is widely grown in tropical regions. The fruit is orange or yellow and good eating.

Butterfly bush (Turnera diffusa)

This Thunbergia grandiflora has many common names such as Blue Skyflower, Bengal Trumpet and Clockvine. It is native to China, India, Nepal, Indochina and Burma. Broken pieces of plant float down watercourses and establish easily. The large flowers are followed by pods which eject seeds several metres on ripening. It is a declared noxious weed in Queensland. By the same token it has been given an Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society (UK). A climbing plant, it can reach 20m in height.

The shrub Vinca (Kopsia fruticosa) occurs in India and on the Malay Peninsula. It has important traditional medicinal properties and is used in treating sores and syphilis.