[Note: There will be no post next week (1 November) as I will be overseas during that weekend.]

Last Saturday, I made a trip to Admiralty Park with the primary aim to check on a common fern (Cyclosorus subpubescens) there. The observation of the fern was share in my note last week. The focus on ferns led me to discover 2 relatively less common ferns that I had not seen in the park previously --- Cyclosorus polycarpus and Tectaria incisa. Both are relatively large ferns in its mature stage. However, the ones seen at the Park were still in their infancy stage. Cyclosorus polycarpus was present in a small, close cluster while there was only one lone Tectaria incisa. Other than Cyclosorus subpubescens, the most common fern there was a climber known as Miding Fern (Stenochlaena palustris).

Recently, I added pictures of 2 new wild plants taken from this semi-mangrove park. One of them, Smythea lanceata was only spotted in late September. As the access to the locality of this climber was blocked by muddy terrain, I could only took some pictures from afar. The second plant also happened to be a climber, Gnetum microcarpum, was spotted on this trip. It was probably there for quite some time judging from the size of the stem. I might have seen it in the past, but mistaken it as another common mangrove climber, Derris trifoliata. Another climber that I had recently found in this park was Cissus repens, a member of the grape family.

Many native trees were being planted in the park in recent years. Most of them seemed to be settling well in their new habitat. One of them was Ilex cymosa. It is the food plant for the caterpillar of Studded Sergeant (Athyma asura idita). This time round, another insect was seen feeding on its leaves and I spotted 3 of them on 3 separate leaves. It was the Tortoise Beetle (Notosacantha rufa). The beetle was not new, but its relationship with this plant probably was, since I had yet to find a report on Tortoise Beetle feeding on this plant.

Over at the water lily pond in front of a restaurant, there was a massive bloom of the Floating Bladderwort (Utricularia gibba). Large colonies of the conspicuous small yellow flowers could be seen occupying several spots in the pond.