To fully benefit from my newly gifted Friends of Wildlife membership, I undertook two visits this month (7 and 22 January) to the Singapore Zoo and River Wonders. In addition to observing the animals, I am also keenly interested in examining the vegetation within the parks, whether cultivated or wild.

Ardisia cornudentata	Aeschynanthus pulcher (Lipstick Plant)	Euterpe oleracea (Acai Palm)
Fig. 1: Three new plant records added to my website

To date, the visits have contributed three new plants (Fig. 1) to my Plant Pictorial Database: Euterpe oleracea (Acai Palm), Ardisia cornudentata, and Aeschynanthus pulcher (Lipstick Plant). All three specimens are cultivated. The identification of the Acai Palm was facilitated by signage along the walkway that provided information about the palm. The Lipstick Plant was also readily identified based on searches of its family (Gesneriaceae) members on NParks’ Flora & Fauna Web.

The identification of Ardisia cornudentata took some time as it is not listed in NParks’ Flora & Fauna Web. Additionally, this name was absent from the Singapore flora checklists published in 2022 and 2009. A breakthrough occurred when I encountered two images on Cerlin Ng’s Flickr page, depicting a plant resembling Ardisia crenata, though with narrower leaves compared to those of Ardisia crenata. While there are no records of this species in Singapore on the iNaturalist website, there are 8 recorded instances in Malaysia. Despite these findings, I still harbour some doubt on the identity of this shrub.

I encountered an unidentified palm (Fig. 2), which I suspect belongs to the genus Arenga due to the resemblance of its fruits to those of Arenga hookeriana (Hooker's Fishtail Palm). There is only a single infructescence (an aggregate fruit) present. It is a small palm, but unlike Arenga hookeriana, which has costapalmate leaves, this specimen possesses pinnate leaves. Despite extensive investigations, I have been unable to ascertain its specific species name.

Fig. 2: Unknown plam

Fig. 3: Palm Aphid found on the leaves of Nypa fruticans) seen in 2017

During the investigation into the identity of the unknown palm, I encountered an article from the University of Florida that included an image of a Palm Aphid. This image resembled an organism I discovered on the Nipah Palm (Nypa fruticans) in 2017 (Fig. 3). Previously, I had assumed this organism to be a type of scale insect. Upon further examination, an image of similar aphids identified it as a Cerataphis species. The only local publication related to Palm Aphid (Cerataphis orchidearum aptera) referenced two rattan species, Korthalsia echinometra and Korthalsia rostrata [1]. Although the search did not produce the desired result, it provided valuable insights into the Palm Aphid.

Reference:

[1] Chan CSY, Cheng J, Loh JYQ, Tan E, Loo AHB, Tang JH. 2012. Observations of ants and aphids in the rattan species Korthalsia echinometra Becc. and Korthalsia rostrata Blume. Raffles Bull Zoology 2012;Suppl 25:133-139. | Read article |