The mystery surrounding a Clidemia species was finally resolved yesterday, I hope. On 17 February 2010, while walking along the Tree Top Walk Trail, I came across a Clidemia species that seemed to look slightly different from the commonly found Clidemia hirta (Koster's Curse). Back then, I was not as observant compared to 5 years later and had brushed the observation aside as a variant of Clidemia hirta.

Yesterday, I was on the Tree Top Walk Trail again and decided to take a closer look at this Clidemia species that was available at least in 2 different spots, growing side by side with Clidemia hirta. Overall, it looked similar to Clidemia hirta with hairs all over the plant, white flowers and dark purple hairy fruits. The main difference was the arrangement of the flowers on the stalks. Surprisingly, it was quite easy to find its identity after noticing the main difference --- it should be Clidemia capitellata, a native of South America.

In Clidemia capitellata, the flowers are arranged along a elongated stalk while that in Clidemia hirta are arranged in bundles on a much shorter stalk. Below are the pictures of the 2 species for comparison.

Clidemia capitellata

Clidemia hirta

In fact, Jonathan Hiew (techieoldfox) had reported the sighting of this plant in August 2013 in a posting in iNaturalist. Although I first saw the plant in February 2010, it should have been introduced much earlier since matured fruiting plants were already seen then. Nevertheless, it should have arrived much later than Clidemia hirta since it appeared to thrive in the current habitat and was not as widespread as Clidemia hirta. There was no official record from the botanical community in Singapore on this other Clidemia species yet.

I will share my note on this trip to Tree Top Walk Trail next week.

Update: 7 March 2020

Update: 26 July 2024