Bloom Watching

Sunday - and feeling light and easy, I decided to take to the wheels and spin around Bintulu town to do some bloom watching. Luckily I spotted a line of Angsana Trees in full bloom at Kidurong township. Kidurong township faces the sea and is an ideal location for Angsana Trees ( Pterocarpus indicus) which grow naturally by the sea through out Malaysia. Bintulu's distinct dry spell now have induced many Angsana trees in town displaying their best blooms.

Angsana or sometimes referred briefly as 'Sena' is native to Malaysia. It has small yellow and highly fragrant flowers. I was amazed by the carpet of yellow flowers that gather below the trees I saw this afternoon ( See pictures at inset and below)

Angsana trees are huge trees with a shady crown and are normally planted on broad roads. When full grown it can reach a height of 30 meters.

Recently I have been very busy bloom watching and that hobby made me put up a new blog specifically to compile all the pictures I took of the plants since I started blogging about them. The blog is really a photo blog with very little data on the plants except their names. All the plants can be accessed here. It is my fervent hope that the compilation becomes a useful resource on tropical plants .

Bintulu trees glowing in gold colours

The Angsana trees are flowering today in Bintulu.  They were staple trees when Bintulu started its 'Greening ' campaign some 25 years ago. Now they have reached huge matured forms and impressive majesty. Today's flowering must have been induced by the sudden fall  in temperatures a few days ago when Bintulu experienced at least a fall of 10 degrees in temperature due to very heavy rains and after experiencing a prolonged drought.

The Angsana trees or sometimes referred to as 'Pokok Sena' by the Bintulu locals have a compact spreading crown which makes it an ideal tree for lanscaping of major roads, open parks and  car parks for the tremendous shade it offers.  Angsanas are easily propagated from woody cuttings and can be transplanted as an instant tree with little difficulties .

A closer look at the Angsana flowers reveal its bright golden yellow colours. The flowers are very fragrant but last only a day long. When they drop they leave a mass of yellow blossoms that make the ground turns gold and heavily scented as you walk over it.

Below is a picture I managed to retrieve from my plants album showing one angsana tree on the same stretch of road like the picture above except that it was taken years ago.