I took an unplanned detoured to Choa Chu Kang (CCK) Park last week since I had about an hour to spare while I was at Limbang area. Originally, I just planned to check out the nearby Limbang Park which I had not visited before. But there was nothing interesting at that park from a nature perspective. There were nice playgrounds though. I scanned google map to see what other green areas were available nearby. The much larger CCK Park looked very enticing.

The walk under the hot afternoon sun toward the park did not go to waste. Though short, this brief exploration at the CCK Park eventually added 2 new set of plant images to my website --- Lippia dulcis (Aztec Sweet Herb) and Citrus hystrix (Kaffir Lime). Lippia dulcis was seen cultivated in the Therapeutic Garden area while the few Citrus hystrix were found planted in one of the raised bed gardening plots under the NParks' Allotment Gardens program. I did try my luck to apply for a gardening plot near my place earlier this year but was unsuccessful. Of the two new plants, I was more interested in Citrus hystrix as it is a potential candidate to grow at home. Citrus hystrix is cultivated mainly for its unique hourglass-shaped leaves that are used in cooking [1-2]. Its fruits have very rough surface.

With the keen interest in this plant, I scouted for a packet of the line seeds to start my own plant while I was in Bangkok over the last weekend. The label on the seed packet was “Leech Lime Seeds”. I might write a separate note on this lime in the future if I am successful in getting the plant to flower and fruit.

I spent more time exploring the few Sterculia lanceolata trees since I had not seen its flowers for some years now. I needed better quality pictures of the flowers. The few low flowering branches made it easy to obtain what I need. This time round, I had learned that the flowers with hairy carpels were females. While the few small trees were flowering, no fruit were form yet.

In our forest, there is a variety of Sterculia lanceolata that was given the name Sterculia lanceolata var. coccinea. It is an understorey plant. In NParks Flora & Fauna Web, this variety was named as Sterculia coccinea currently. Similar naming convention was used in the iNaturalist website. Of the 15 observations listed as of today, 14 were from Singapore. I had adopted the naming convention from the Plants of the World Online website that treat Sterculia coccinea as a synonym of Sterculia lanceolata var. coccinea.

References:

[1] Mabberley DJ. Limau Hantu and Limau Purut. The story of lime-leaves (Citrus hystrix D C , Rutaceae)? Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 2002;54:185-197. | Read article |

[2] Budiarto R, Poerwanto R, Santosa E, Efendi D, Agusta A. Production, post-harvest and marketing of Kaffir Lime (Citrus hystrix DC) in Tulungagung, Indonesia. J Trop Crop Sci 2019;6(2):138-143. | Read article |