Malus pumila '塞外红'

‘塞外红’,又名‘锦绣海棠’,‘鸡心果’。

由于果形似鸡心，原被称为“鸡心果”，后经内蒙古自治区通辽市林业科学院申报审定为“塞外红”。

果实阔圆锥形,平均单果质量58.3 g,最大单果质量80.3 g;近成熟时果面全部着鲜红色,色泽艳丽,成熟时颜色变深红,果面光洁,果点小;果实硬度大,果肉淡黄,肉质紧脆,多汁,酸甜适口,有浓郁的香味。

通辽地区4月中旬萌芽,5月初开花,5月下旬果实膨大,8月下旬开始着色,9月中下旬果实成熟。果实发育期为120 天。

室温可贮1至2个月,冷藏3至4个月。

在内蒙古自治区大部、吉林省西南部、辽宁省北部、黑龙江省东南部的部分地区也可栽植。

Pasar Borneo 2019

 unripened Durian 

( Durio zibethinus )

Unripened durian are cooked as savory dish.  It is cooked with leaves of cekur manis ( Sauropus androgynus ), with anchovies and chili, coconut milk, or made into jam !

Alium chinense 

( synonym Alium bakeri )

known as Lokio ( Sarawak) or Losun  ( Sabah ), this local Alium is consumed fresh, stir try with egg or other vegetable, or pickled.

Lasia spinosa 

known as pucuk semelaong / geli-geli / nyambing.
eaten cooked with belacan, budu or cencalok.

Plectranthus amboinicus 
( synonym Coeus amboinicus )

Bangun-bangun leaves are eaten as greens,
or used as traditional medicine.

Artocarpus odoratissimus

 Unripened tarap can be cooked as vegetable, with anchovies, or other meat.

Litsea garciae

Engkala ( Iban ) or Tebulus ( Melanau ) taste similar to avocado, yet less greasy.  Its soaked in warm water to soften the flesh, often eaten with soy source or salt. 

Engkabang Oil

Engkabang oil is extracted from the fruit of Shorea macrophylla.  It is hardened in bamboo sections, and when needed pushed out like a push-pop candy.  Then it is added to steamy hot rice, resulting in a rich buttery taste.   Priced at RM5 in the yesteryears, it is now a pricy commodity at RM25 a section.

Lihing

Lihing is a traditional rice wine for the Kadazan-Dusun people of Sabah. It was made from glutinous rice. 

Bouea macrophylla - Setar

Bouea macrophylla, commonly known as buah kundang hijau, asam kundang, or setar in Malay, is a fruit belongs to the Anacadiaceae family.

It is native to the Malesia archipelago, but is not widely grown. 

The green mature fruit is eaten fresh, usually with soy source and chili, or used in fruit salad ( rojak ).  It is also pickled in syrup as jeruk.   Ripened fruit is yellowish in colour, also eaten fresh.

Codiaeum variegatum : Forms & Sizes

Codiaeum variegatum (L.) Blume, commonly known as “croton”, is an ornamental shrub that originates in tropical forests.

A wide range of variations in leaf shape and coloration has fascinated breeders, landscapers, horticulturists and gardeners, and a huge number of cultivars have been fixed for commercial production. More than 300 cultivars are available in the ornamental horticulture industry.

Diversity in croton’s leaf-shape is quite enormous. The leaf shapes include ovate to linear, entire to deeply lobed, appendiculateat the middle connected by midrib. Coloration and color pattern on the leaves is also a prominent characteristic to distinguish each cultivar.

The phenotypic diversity observed in croton leaves is of a great interest in plant science because virtually all types of leaf morphology can be seen in one species; the plasticity in leaf phenotype is extremely high.

It appears that genetic instability is associated with the leaf phenotypic diversity. Somatic mutations and/or cross pollination by ants may be involved in the mechanism for creating such high diversity. 

A high variation in chromosome numbers and karyotypes may attribute to the morphological diversity among the cultivars of this species.

Croton cultivars can be devided into groups based on leaf types:

1.  Slender

2. Oval

3. Curly

4. Lobed

5. Interrupted

  

Source:

Mollick A.S, et al., 2011, Croton Codiaeum variegatum (L.) Blume cultivars characterized by leaf phenotypic parameters, Scientia Horticulturae Volume 132, 5 December 2011, Pages 71-79.

The Four Tribes of Malvoideae

Subfamily Malvoideae now comprises the traditional Malvaceae and has consistently emerged as a very homogeneous, monophyletic group. In a recent treatment of Malvoideae, Bayer and Kutbitzki (2003) divide the subfamily into four tribes: Gossypieae, Hibisceae, Kydieae, and Malveae.

The Malvoideae can be further ranked into the tribes listed below:

Malvoideae Tribes

Tribe Gossypieae

Tribe Gossypieae has been redifined to include eight genera: Gossypium, Cephalohibiscus, Cienfuegosia, Hampea, Kokia, Gossypioides, Lebronnecia and Thespesia. It is specifically separated from the Hibisceae tribe based on embryo structure and the presence of pigment glands. These glands are associated with the capacity to synthesize the pigment gossypol. The Gossypieae appear to be unique in possessing these glands and this capacity.

More than 50 species of Gossypium are distributed in arid to semi-arid regions of the tropics and subtropics. Of these, four species were independently domesticated for their fiber (cotton) in Africa, Asia and the Americas. Gossypium species exhibit extraordinary morphological variation, with a diverse array of characteristics, ranging from trailing herbaceous perennials to 15m tall trees.

Tribe Hibisceae

Tribe Hibisceae is best known for its largest genus, Hibiscus — one of the world's most popular horticultural plant genera — which includes more than 300 species worldwide. The tribe Hibisceae includes (but is not limited to) :  Abelmoschus, Hibiscadelphus, Hibiscus, Kosteletzkya, Malvaviscus, Pavonia, Radyera, Talipariti and Wercklea.

Tribe Kydieae

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Tribe Malveae

Tribe Malveae includes approximately 70 genera (1000 species) that encompass the majority of the morphological and taxonomic diversity in the Malvoideae subfamily. The genera of Malveae exhibit a broad geographic distribution, with representatives in both tropic and temperate areas in a variety of habitats. Around 15 of the 70 Malveae genera have mostly temperate distributions, while some of the largest genera in the tribe (Abutilon, Sida, Nototriche) have primarily tropical distributions.

The Nine Subfamilies of Malvaceae

The Malvaceae family presents many challenges for taxonomists. Opinions often differ as where to draw the lines between species, between genera, between tribes and between the subfamilies. This is not surprising — the Malvaceae family encompasses over 200 genera with close to 2,300 species!

In terms of number of species, the largest genera include Hibiscus (~300 species), Sterculia (~250 species), Dombeya (~225 species), Pavonia (~200 species) and Sida (~200 species).

In recent years an expanded circumscription of the Malvaceae family has been created, which is composed of nine subfamilies. The relationships between these subfamilies are still obscure, and the subject of ongoing discussion. The traditional Malvaceae have been moved to Malvoideae, the subfamily that now approximately corresponds to that group.

The Nine Subfamilies of Malavacae

1. Bombacoideae (formerly Bombacaceae, in part), 12 genera, (~120 species).

2. Brownlowioideae,  8 genera, (~70 species).

3. Byttnerioideae, 26 genera, (~650 species).

4. Dombeyoideae, ~20 genera, (~380 species).

5. Grewioideae, 25 genera, (~770 species).

6. Helicteroideae, 8 to 12 genera, 10 to 90 species.

7. Sterculioideae, (formerly Sterculiaceae, in part), 12 genera, (~430 species).

8. Tilioideae, (formerly Tiliaceae, in part) 3 genera, (~50 species).

9. Malvoideae, (formerly Malvaceae), 78 genera, (~1,600 species). 

Cassia x nealiae

The rainbow shower tree is actually a sterile hybrid of two Cassia species.   In Honolulu, it became so widely cultivated that the multicolored cultivar “Wilhelmina Tenney” was declared the official tree of the City and County of Honolulu in 1965.

The original hybrid cross was done in Hawaii around 1916 by David Haughs. 

The tree is scientifically named Cassia x nealiae honoring Marie C. Neal.  She was a well-known Hawaiian botanist and author of botanical reference book, “In Gardens of Hawaii.”  In her 1928 original and her 1965 revision, she refers to the rainbow shower as the cross Cassia javanica x C. fistula.

Her propagation advice is that it is best done by cross-pollinating blossoms of the pink-and-white shower tree with blossoms of the golden shower tree and using seeds from the resulting cross.   

Four distinct color variants have resulted from the original cross, they include ones that are predominantly yellow, white or gold as well as “Wilhelmena Tenny,” which produces the streaked yellow and cerise flowers. The flowers on the rainbow trees are produced on long pendulant racemes that appear on branches that bear stems of inch-long dark green leaflets.

Rainbow shower trees can tolerate many soil types but prefer to grow in soil that drains well. The tree is fairly drought tolerant and can make a nice addition to a xeriscape garden. It is not, however, very salt or wind tolerant, so should be grown away from the ocean and in areas of low wind.