It was a day to have a potential last look at some beautiful old seawalls before they are torn down by the MRT development at Marine Parade Road but turned out to be a surprised encounter with a rare fern called Nephrolepis acutifolia. Thank you, Stuart Lindsay, for pointing out my initial mistaken identification. It can be found on a rain tree at Marine Parade Road and a few locations such as Portsdown and SBG. Considered as an endangered species in Singapore.
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| old seawall and gate |
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| old seawall and steps |
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| old ornated gate |
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| Frond 1.5 to 2m long. |
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| Pinnate frond |
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| Sorus marginal; indusium running almost the entire length of both adaxial and abaxial margin of pinna. |
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| lanceolate pinnae |
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| Can you see the sporangia peeping out from the knife edge of the margin? |
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| Brown non-persistent scales at the base of stipes |
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| Long slender stipes |
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| Stipe and rachis grooved above |
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| Fiddlehead |
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| Wiry roots with green tips |
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| Rain tree festooned with ferns |
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| Young fern destined for Chek Jawa for planting |
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| Watch this space: spores broadcast into the gaps of an old kampong stone wall in Pulau Ubin! |
