Rain may wipe out field trips and mess up commuting, but lots of interesting mangrove seeds and seedlings are often washed up on our shores during the rainy season.
Today, I came across lots of propagules from rarer trees such as
Tumu berau (
Bruguiera sexangula) and
Lenggadai (
Bruguiera parviflora!
It was another drippy cloudy morning and just a pair of fishermen on the deserted beaches of Changi on a high tide. The beach was not as thickly covered with seedlings as it was
earlier this year. But I did come across many mangrove seeds and seedlings (more properly called propagules).
I was surprised to find a lot of
Tumu berau (
Bruguiera sexangula) propagules! These are short, fat and bright green. I thought I saw the last of them
in June. There were also a variety of other propagules.
The largest number of propagules were from Bakau putih. It was my first time that I saw several propagules of Lenggadai, they were all yellowish green. I also came across a few propagules of Tengar merah.
Bright pink propagules! I remember
Dr John Yong's talk where he explains that this happens when the mother mangrove tree is exposed to pollution. There were also lots of medium sized propagules that are probably
Bakau minyak (
Rhizophora apiculata). I only saw one very long
Bakau kurap (
Rhizophora mucronata) propagule and one that might be
Tumu (
Bruguiera gymnorrhiza).
I was a little confused by 'furry' seeds until I realised they were probably fruits of
Sea almond (
Terminalia catappa) at different stages of decomposition?
Other seeds that washed up were not green. How nice to see one (A) that seems to be a seed from Dungun (
Heritiera littoralis)! My first time! [Oops, update: seems (A) is not Dungun after all).
The rainy season seems to have started early this year. While I do hope there won't be another serious flood like the one in 2007 that resulted in
mass death at Chek Jawa. I am looking forward to finding interesting mangrove seeds and seedlings on our shores during this period!
