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INFORMATION ON PLANTS @ SBWR

Mangroves exist in the transient world of land and sea having to endure the problems such as limited salt intake and nutrients uptake. Life at the mangroves is harsh, yet many have triumphed over the adverse environment with each inhabitant playing a role in making the ecosystem a unique and special place for Man and the environment to share. This diversity and warmth, especially felt in Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, has allowed it to be one of Singaporeans’ most favourite places to go.

#20 - Sea Poison Tree

The buoyant green, pyramid like fruit of the Barringtonia asiatica contain saponins, which is used as fish poison.This tree is also commonly known as Sea Poison Tree.

Family name: Lecythidaceae

#19 - The Dragon’s Scales

The Dragon’s Scales or Pyrrosia piloselloides, an epiphyte, is a tiny and hardy fern. It is highly adapted for life on the branches of trees and paves the way for the establishment of other less hardy ferns.

Family name: Polypodiaceae

#18 - Dillenia suffruticosa

Dillenia suffruticosa or commonly known as Simpoh Ayer in Malay, is a large scrub and can grow up to 7 meters tall. The bright yellow flower open and fall within the same day. The ripe fruit is pink splitting into 7 to 11 radiating segments. Fruit eating birds love the seeds. The large and robust leaves are suitable for disposable platters and as wrappers for tempeh, a fermented soybean delicacy. Sap from the twigs or leaf stalks are applied to external wound to stop bleeding.

Family name: Dilleniaceae

#17 - Singapore Rhododendron

The Singapore Rhododendron is a common shrub with medicinal properties and can be used for the cure of diarrhoea. The ripe fruit splits to expose a black pulp that stains the mouth black when eaten.

Family name: Melastoma

#16 - Muntingia calabura

Muntingia calabura, also known as Singapore cherry, is a tall tree reaching to a height of 13 meters tall. The sweet fruits are much sought after by fruit eating birds, squirrels and bats.

Family name: Muntingiaceae

#15 - Bird Nest Fern

Asplenium nidus, also known as Bird Nest Fern is an epiphytic fern gaining foothold on trees and rocks, often growing on the ground after falling from trees. The leaves can grow up to 1.4 meters long and form a nest-like rosette adapted to collecting rainwater and trap nutrient-rich debris and dead leaves falling from surrounding trees. Dead fronds remain on fern as a thick skirt beneath, often home to small animals and insects.

Family name: Aspleniaceae

#14 - Hibiscus tiliaceus

Hibiscus tiliaceus is commonly known as Sea Hibiscus and can grow up to 13 meters tall. It have heart-shaped leaf. The bright yellow flower with maroon eye opens in the morning and fades dull pink soon after falling in the same evening. The seeds are enclosed within a star-shaped calyx cup. The tree has many uses and that includes stem cuttings as fences, wood for boat building and firewood, fibers from the bark as strings and roots, leaves and shoots are medicinal.

Family name: Malvaceae

#13 - The Nypa fruticans

The Nypa fruticans or attap palm as it is commonly known, have pollen fossils found in deposits dating back to 70 million years ago! Leaflets are used to make roof thatching (ataps), house partitions, hats, umbrellas, baskets and mats. The young leaflets are dried and used as cigarette wrappers and leaf stalks are burn as fuel. Sugar, wine (toddy) and vinegar can be obtained by processing the sweet sap tapped from severed flowering stalks. Atap- chee, a sweetmeat, is made from young seeds, and served in a local desert call ice-kacang.

Family name: Arecaceae

#12 - Avicennia sp.

The pencil-like roots of the Avicennia sp (Api-api) or pneumatophores branched upwards from the main horizontal roots that grow below the soil. These roots allow the absorption of atmospheric oxygen through specialized root cells known as lenticels.

This adaptation is important, as the mud that the mangrove trees grow is extremely low in oxygen.

Family name: Avicenniaceae

#11 - Avicennia alba

The Avicennia alba is the most common Avicennia species found in the reserve. All Avicennia species have the ability to excrete excess salt from their leaves through special salt glands found in the leaf surface. The term alba and the common name in Malay Api Api Puteh refers to whitish under leaf surface.

Family name: Acanthaceae

#10 - Xylocarpus granatum

The Xylocarpus granatum or Nyireh batu is a tree that could reach to a height of 15 meters tall. The tree has a peeling, smooth bark, have white flowers and large pendulous woody fruit. Once ripe, the fruit will burst open to reveal several pyramid-shaped seeds, which are dispersed by water. The hardy wood is use for boat-building & furniture; bark for tanning and medicinally against dysentery, and roots and seeds in medicinal preparations.

Family name: Meliaceae

#9 - Rhizophora sp.

The Rhizophora sp. has roots that branch from trunks like stilts. This helps to prop up the tree in the soft mud so that it will not topple with the ebbing and rising tide.

Family name: Rhizophoraceae

#8 - Water Hyacinth

The Water Hyacinth or Eichhornia crassipes is a floating plant with swollen leaf stalks that contain air to help the plant float. Can reproduce very quickly and take over an entire pond. Bear light purple flowers that grow in a cluster.

Family name: Pontederiaceae

#7 - The Water Banana

Water banana, Ludwigia adscendens, is a half-submerged plant. It can grow rooted in mud or floating in water. It has alternate leaves which have leaf blades with blunt tips. Individual flowers are found at the axils of each leaf and possess white or yellow petals.

Family name: Onagraceae

#6 - Water Lettuce

The water lettuce or Pistia stratiotes is a floating plant that has soft velvety leaves that are arranged such that it looks like a lettuce. Bears small, white flowers.

Family name: Araceae

#5 - The Sacred Lotus

The Sacred Lotus or Nelumbo nucifera has flowers and leafstalks that rise above the water. The fruit is funnel-shaped and is embedded with many edible seeds.

Family name: Nelumbonaceae

#4 - Typha Angustifolia

An aquatic grass-like herb, Typha angustifolia is also known as Cattail or Bulrush and can grow up to 3 meters tall. They have tiny male and female flowers held in separate cylindrical spikes, the male being above. The flowers are wind pollinated. The sausage-looking inflorescence contains tiny fruits that are dispersed by the wind. Birds like Munias and Bulbuls also gather these cotton-like fruits to line their nest.

Family name: Typhaceae

#3 - Ceratopteris thalictroides

A fleshy tufted aquatic fern, Ceratopteris thalictroides or water sprite, looks like fleshy celery. This fern is cultivated in flooded rice-fields in Japan and China as a late spring vegetable, or as a green manure. Locally eaten as spinach and planted in ponds as an ornamental plant.

Family name: Ceratopteridaceae

#2 - Monochoria Hastate

Monochoria hastate or Pondweed is an aquatic herb with broad spearhead-shaped leaves and long-stalked, reaching 60 cm tall. The flowers are light violet and the fruits are enclosed in capsule with many tiny seeds within. Leaves and flowers can be eaten as vegetable either raw or steamed.

Family name: Potamogetonaceae