Bananas of Johan Setia & Kg Jalan Kebun

Johan Setia and Kg Jalan Kebun are 2 Malay kampungs south of Klang.  The main economic activity is still non-other-than agriculture.  Almost every household plants something at their backyard.  There are some smallholders planting oilpalm, pineapple, vegetables, fruit trees and other cash crops.

Banana are widely planted as cash crops.  A wide variety of banana can be found in makeshift stall along Jalan Johan Setia and Jalan Kebun selling fruits.

 

Phyllanthus acidus - Cermai

Cermai is the fruit of Phyllanthus acidus, also known as Malay gooseberry, is an exotic local fruit of the tropical Asia.  

A cermai tree can grow up to 10 meter in height.  The leaves are ovate, alternates, light green in colour.  The flowers can be male, female or hermaphrodite, small and pinkish in clusters on the branches.  The fruits are pale yellow, waxy, crisp and juicy, with 4 – 6 seeds.

Cermai is cultivated mainly for its fruit, which is very sour, thus seldom consumed fresh.  The cermai fruit is mostly used in cooking, pickled in salt, sweetened and made into syrup.  It is also consumed raw mixed in rojak buah, or pounded with sambal belacan and eaten with rice.    The young leaves can also be eaten as greens 

Lorry Loaded Ongrizinal Mechanized Herbicide Sprayer

Water pump is made for transferring water for watering plants – an essential practice especially for newly planted grass/plants, or during draught seasons  –  thus, a life-giving equipment.

Yet, amidst recent labour draught, such a life-giving equipment was re-assigned as a killing machine – mechanized herbicide sprayer.

First order of the ‘re-assignment’ exercise is to connect the pump’s outlet pipe to a cannibalized knapsack nozzle.   This is the most important step in the whole exercise.  Failure to connect the knapsack nozzle means non-available of spray pattern and desirable water droplets, thus the operation deemed a no-go.

First, the knapsack nozzle is connected to a 15mm diameter high pressure hose, tightened by a rubber strip.  Rubber strip seems primitive, yet its an effective and cheap way to secure pipe connections.  

Then, the 15mm hose is connected to a 32mm polypipe, and then again connected to a 40mm high pressure hose.  A rigid polypipe is used because when tightened with rubber strips, it won’t flattened and block the water flow.  Both end of the 32mm polypipe is secure with open-cut rubber hose to allow better grip between 15mm pipe and 40mm pipes.

The herbicide is mixed in 200L drums on a lorry.  A 3-man team is required when operating the sprayer : one monitoring the water and pump on the lorry, another to control the pipe on the ground, and the third one to handle the nozzle.

For spraying along road shoulders, the workers should be walking in front of the lorry, to allow better view of the lorry driver of the pace of spraying.   

The pump should not be used for watering, for fear of herbicide contamination.

Shrub Trimming with Brush Cuttter

Amidst the pressing draught of labour, every task and worker are closely monitored to ensure maximum productivity.  

A brush cutter is designed for trimming and cutting grass and brush.  Yet, in Malaysia, we seldom see a brush cutter being used to trimming brush / bushes / shrubs / scrub / thicket.  

Thus, brush cutters were used in trimming several shrubs, e.g. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Ixora javanica, Bougainvillea  glabra etc.   The result was fantastically fast.   Time spent on trimming was cut half !   The task would be even faster when the workers familiarized themselves with the machine. 

The ideal height of the shrubs should be around or less than 1 meter.  Otherwise, an elevated platform is required, which is very inconvenience, dangerous and time-dragging.

Solanum melongena - terung telunjuk

Terung (Malay) is a Solanum melongena of the nightshade family ( Solanaceae ).    It is known as eggplant for its resemblance of goose or hen’s egg.  It is also known as melongene, aubergine, brinjal, garden egg or guinea squash.

There are numerous varieties of terung.  Different varieties have different size, shape, and colour.   larger varieties weighing up to 1 kg.   Colours vary from white to yellow, green to dark purple, or with a colour gradient or strips.  Shapes come in round, oval, elongated, cylindrical etc.

It is divided into 3 major varieties : S. melongena var esculentum, the common terung ; S. melongena var depressum , the dwaft terung ; and S. melongena var serpentium, the snake terung.  In addition, a lot of subspecies and cultivar have been named.

Terung telunjuk, or also called terung kuning is a variety of S. melongena found in Malesia.  It is about 10cm in length, with ±3cm diameter.  Colour is light green with white stripes at bottom when immature, turn to yellow upon ripening.   Nevertheless, the flower is brilliantly purple in colour, same as flowers of other varieties.    

Ravenala madagascariensis

Ravenala madagascariensis, commonly known as Traveller’s Palm, is originated from Madagascar.  Despite its name, it is not a true palm ( Areacaceae ), but a member of the bird-of-paradise family ( Strelitziaceae ).  R. madagascariensis is the sole member of the genus Ravenala.

It is called Traveller’s Palm because the sheaths of the stems holds rainwater, which supposedly could be drink for needy travelers.   However, the fact is, the water trapped inside the sheaths is murky, black, smelly, and infested with mosquito larvae, and should not be consumed without prior purification and boiling.  Another possible reason for its name is that the fan tends to grow in a north-south orientation, providing a crude compass.  This is also not true as intensive observations on wild trees refuted the claim.

R. madagascariensis has enormous paddle-shaped leaves, resembling those of banana, borne on long petioles.  The leaves are aligned in a single plane, resulting in a fan-shape appearance.    

Flowers are pale-yellow in colour, similar to those of Strelitzia’s, but less showy and certainly less attractive.   Bracts are light green in colour.   The flowers when dried, attached to the bunch with the purplish fruit, which are similar to those of banana’s.

Traveller’s Palm can grow up to 16m in height.  Stems are simple, solitary, hardy and fibrous, up to 1” in diameter, in reminisce to a coconut’s stem.  As the tree grows, the dried older leaves at the bottom detached from the stem, similar to coconut’s.

Young plants emerged from the ground by the base of mother plant, a vegetative reproduction via suckling.  

Ruffed lemurs ( Lemur varius ),  are know to be the sole pollinator of Ravenala.  They have thought to have coevolved.

Ravenala madagascariensis is widely planted as ornamental tree.  Young, smaller plantlet can be trained as indoor plants.   It can tolerate most soil condition with good drainage.  It thrives best under full sun.   Care is minimal, as and when necessary to remove old fronds from the trunk.   The plant wilts after flowering. 


At least 4 different forms of Ravenala madagascariensis have been distinguished : malama, hiranirana, bemavo, and horonorona. 

Impatiens balsamina

凤仙花 is Impatiens balsamina, an annual plant of  the Balsaminaceae family.  In Malaysia, it is known as bunga keembung in Malay language.

It is native to southern Asia, but widely cultivated as an ornamental plant throughout tropical/sub-tropical Asia.  Due to its vigorous reproduction, it became invasive and noxious is many area.

Garden balsam is an annual plant capable to grow up to 1 meter in height.   It has thick but herbaceous stem.  The leaves are toothed-margin.  The flowers are brilliantly coloured with red, pink, purple or white.  Above all, the most fascinating and unforgettable feature is the explosive dehiscence seed capsules.

brilliantly coloured flower

seed pods

dehiscenced pod exposing seeds