There's a tiny patch of rocky cliffs at Labrador that I visited for the first time today!
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| Like many of our natural cliffs, there is always the danger of rock falls! |
Tucked away from the shores, I've missed this spot despite the many trips I've made to Labrador and Berlayar Creek. Draped on the cliffs were some plants that are probably naturally occurring and were not planted there.
Here, I saw several very large old
Misi or Sea gutta trees (
Pouteria obovata). And they were all blooming! There were also several
Sea almond (
Terminalia catappa) trees and they were in full bloom too. The ground was strewn with tiny white blossoms and there was a faint fragrance in the air. So lovely!
Also growing on the cliff, was this striking plant. Unfortunately, I don't know what it is.
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| Mystery Plant No. 1 |
It too was blooming! With one small blob that looked like a developing fruit. As usual, will rely on kind botanical souls to suggest the identity of these mystery plants! Thank you!
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| Mystery Plant No. 1 |
Among the undergrowth at the base of the cliff, this pretty scrambling plant with tiny white flowers. Is it some kind of native
Ixora? I'm not sure.
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| Mystery Plant No. 2 |
Other wild plants seen include
Tiup tiup (
Adinandra dumosa) with their curious flowers that resembles blow pipes.
I love what has done for the park next to Berlayar Creek! Plenty of rare seashore and mangrove plants have been planted here! A quick stroll and I can see lots of examples of these plants, which helps me a lot in identifying them again when I see them in the wild.
Today, I noticed several
Intsia bijuga! Sadly, none were blooming at the time.
In Labrador Park itself, I noticed a planted tree that seems to be the
Mangrove trumpet tree (
Dolichandrone spathacea) which is listed as 'Critically Endangered'.
There are lots of these small trees with bright orange flowers and clusters of egg-shaped fruits. The leaves are covered with short stiff hairs which make them feel rough. Dr John Yong earlier suggested these might be
Cordia sp. possibly
Cordia sebestena which is probably extinct in Singapore.
There are also hedges of
Kemuting (
Rhodomyrtus tomentosa) with pretty pink flowers.
The label on this plant says its
Licuala spinosa which is also called the Mangrove fan palm.
This palm is labelled as Nibong (
Oncosperma tigillarium) which is considered a mangrove associate. It has really nasty looking spikes!
Orchids have also been placed on large trees in the Park. Some of them are blooming!
More about the rare plants that can be found here also in
this earlier post.
It appears the rocky cliffs of Labrador are deemed unstable. So access to the rocky shore and jetty and the aerial staircase are permanently closed.
I visited to have a look at the construction of the new boardwalk at Berlayar Creek. I was astonished to the see the
massive scale of the works there!
