St. John's Island has some tiny patches of mangroves, including some rare mangrove trees. It is probably the only place where I can take a photo of mangrove trees with the Singapore business district in the background!
I haven't looked at the mangroves here since
Aug 09 and
another trip also in the same month.
I finally got to see the Critically Endangered
Api-api jambu (
Avicennia marina) at St. John's. The last time we were here, the tree wasn't 'fruiting', but this time it was! And Jun has labelled it for the nature walks she coordinates here.
Alas, the area where the tree is growing continues to be used as a dumping ground for fallen leaves cleared from the rest of the island. I didn't get have a look to see
whether burning of trash was still going on at the other side of this tiny mangrove patch.
There are also several of the Vulnerable
Bakau pasir (
Rhizophora stylosa) on this shore. Some of the propagules had their brown parts chewed up. And some of the trees were full of red ants. There are also some very nice old
Tumu (
Bruguiera gymnorrhiza) here.
After this brief look, we head quickly for the natural cliffs of St. John's Island. These are cloaked in a wonderful coastal forest.
Among the special trees there are the Critically Endangered
Tongkat Ali (
Eurycoma longifolia).
Here and there in the coastal forest, these bushy plants were in full bloom!
The lovely white puffy flowers dusted the cliffs like snow. I don't know what plant this is and shall be lame and await some kind soul to leave a comment with its ID.
Another key objective of mine, have a look at the Critically Endangered
Nyireh (
Xylocarpus rumphii). I have only seen them here and at Sentosa. On St. John's there is this big old gnarled mother tree and two other younger trees. They all seem to be doing well, although many of the leaves were curled up and deformed.
But the mother tree was fruiting!! There were lots of large green fruits resembling apples. How nice!
I didn't focus totally on mangroves and coastal plants today, so here's more about the different flora I saw on
my previous trip.
I also had a
quick look at the rocky shores at St. John's.
