Welcome back, readers! In the last two post, I wrote about the floras at Beach Area A. Today, I will focus on Area B. Let's look what kind of floras can we explore here!

Flora to spot at Beach Area B

Pink-eyed Pong Pong

Cerbera manghas

The Pink-eyed Pong Pong is a small evergreen tree with a round crown that can grow up to 20m tall. All parts of the plant exude white, milky latex when cut. Its fragrant flowers have five white lobes attached to a long tube. They are initially orange-pink but turn red to purple with age. Its large fruit is shaped like an egg and is hard, shiny and smooth becoming red at maturity. Oil extracted from the seed can be used to make candles. The tree is rare in Singapore and only known from populations in Pulau Semakau, Pulau Ubin, and St John's Island.

Pong Pong

Cerbera odollam

Native to Singapore, the Pong Pong has a rounded, bushy crown and can grow to 12m tall. It has glossy green, elliptic leaves that turn orange as they die and then fall off the tree. It produces fragrant white flowers, each with five petals and a yellow "eye" in the center. The fruit is smooth and round, containing a single large poisonous seed surrounded by a thick fibrous husk and a papery outer pulp. The buoyant husk enables the fruit to float on water while its pulp is eaten by some birds.

Kayu Besi

Intsia Bijuga

The Kayu Besi is a big tree that can grow up to 50 m in height, and the trunk can attain 250 cm in girth. It usually grows in coastal areas, producing flowers with white or pink petals in inflorescences up to 17 cm long. Its fruit is a slightly flat and oblong-shaped pod that has one cavity and one row of seeds. It turns brown or black when ripe.

Signing off! Sejuk!