Tall Oldgrowth Coastal Forest of Marsiling

My Rotherham Gate

In the 70’s,

Rotherham Gate can still be seen

as a charming pair of mossy concrete posts

with wrought iron gates and spiky fences.

I knew it well

as I lived only a stone throw away.

And as often as I took the road - a young man -

down the gate and jogged along the picturesque coastal road,

I encrypted a world of a past-present tense
pressed in by nuances of green

romancing every step in me as always

a lone runner today.

In year 2000,

I drew a sketch like a swiftlet would make her nest.

Au naturel yet home of my reality,

A gate of mine now – grit, spit, blood and tears.

And Bumber dear o' so very near
Her rest on sunset meadow endears. 

No one knew better than me like the oldgrowth forest

lording over the gate - my touchstone of time.

In 2017,

I stood by now a solitary invisible gatepost.

I met a young man jogging pass.

He did not see me but I did with my 58-year-old eyes.

I knew where he was going and more. He did not.

And how could he have known the heart of this oldgrowth forest?

Not Endospermum diadenum or Lindera lucida,

Not Macaranga conifera or Bauhinia biflora,

Not Ilex, Palaquium, Archidendron ellipticum…

No, not a single tree that holds up the sheltering sky.

But now he knows.

He knows I loved him and always will.

- Joseph Lai

Me and Bumber

My sketch of Rotherham Gate and plants in year 2000.

Tidal creek Sungei China nearby. 

Trees of oldgrowth forest averaging 30m.

The oldgrowth forest lording at the Causeway over surrounding farmlands in a archival photo dating the 1950s.

Rubus moluccanus 2017

Coastal road of Marsiling. 

Large banyan engulfing the remaining gatepost below the oldgrowth forest 2017.

The canopy of the oldgrowth forest 2017.

Lindera lucida 2017

Endospermum diadenum 2017

Cinnamomum javanicum: The Spice of Life

A rare find! Cinnamomum javanicum

Cinnamomum javanicum is a native wild cinnamom tree considered to be critically endangered in Singapore. It is so very rare that to find not one but two (though young trees) close together is to me an exceptional event in modern-day Singapore. All the more poignant that they should be found in MacRitchie forest currently threatened by the intrusion of the Cross Island MRT Line.

Persistence did the job. And love too. Going where no one go, I do cut a happy trooper most of the time and I am glad. A fruitful start coming at the turn of a new year but not without the bittersweet spice of life attending the wake of my consciousness. It was only last Christmas Eve that I was told of my dear friend's passing. Dr Benito Tan or Ben as I affectionately called him; he is and will forever be etched in my memory as among the best of friends that I could ever find. I am indeed blessed.

Death, Love and Time are my constant friends; recurring themes that I find so much alive and ado living with nature, especially for a happy 58-year-old that is me. The taste of joy is hard to describe when the contemplative recesses of experience never leave you alone. You remember in your head where whither you have been all these years and in your heart whom you have known and loved and got inspired. I thank them all. Such is the spice of life.

This discovery comes also in the wake of an oil spill in the vicinity of our much-loved Pulau Ubin island. Only a few days earlier I swam almost 200m towing a long train of oil booms to secure the seaward side of our marvelous mangrove at Chek Jawa. I did not want my young inexperienced colleagues to do it so I took the plunge myself. It is over and done with and I am glad. I have Dr Tan Wee Kiat (formerly of NIE) to thank though. He taught me an invaluable respect of the sea and the skill of drown-proofing. He also showed me what a wonderful human person could ever aspire to be. To him (a non-botanist) and all my esteemed botanists (past and present) I put at the threshold of your door my deepest respect; all mistakes and failures are mine totally. (Haha)

Last but not least, this moment of happiness has been heightened by Prof. Teh Tiong Sa coming online in Facebook after such a long break of silence! I was worried and as you can imagine, immensely glad to know he is well at long last. To him I am deeply indebted. Gave me courage when I needed it most and all the time inspiring me with his love of outdoor and his keen sense of enquiry as a geographer. I aim no less to see beyond the normal and be out there as much as I can in the field - happily ground truthing.

For these and many things I am truly glad and give thanks.

Leaf as long as 25cm

Long drooping slender branches

Leaf arrangement - opposite, sub-opposite and spiral

Aerial roots

Lamina bullate with pointed leaf tip

Midrib and secondary nerves raised above

Midrib and lamina hairy throughout

Secondary nerves and inter-marginal veins hairy throughout

Hairy rounded stem and bud

Tripli-nerved and densely hairy

Alangium hirsutum: A New Record for Singapore from MacRitchie Forest

Alangium hirsutum Bloemb.
Small tree about 5m tall. Trunk sparsely thorny and bark scaly. Branches long and slender. Leaves alternate, oblanceolate, hairy throughout; leaf-base somewhat equal and tri-nerved. Flowers: borne singly, hanging downwards, bracteolate, smelling strongly of Jasmine; petals 5-merous, white, slender and strongly reflexed; filaments hairy; a pair of tiny bracts behind calyx. Fruit ellipsoid, fine hairy, ripening red with faint longitudinal lines. Ants observed to be attracted to the fruit, especially inside the persistent calyx tube. Tree flowering profusely and its fragrance detected at some distance; would make an excellent garden plant.

Extremely fragrant flowers

Cylindrical flower butt

Fruit ripens red with faint ridges



Pubescent leaves, twigs, fruits and flowers

Thorns on smooth trunk

Journey's End with Ficus superba

I dedicate this poem to the ill-fated gentle giant of a veritable old tree Ficus superba of Tanah Merah (Limau Estate) woods.

Injustice truly for you to be felled. Thank you for letting me walk the last mile with you. But it is not the end for you and me. I have carried you to the mountain of Taiwan and planted a seed from my heart. When the wind blow I will hear you rustle above the eave of my conciousness.

Journey's End At Beitou Library

A scholar's balcony
Looks out from
A mother's heart
Embracing a fig bough
With her eave
Where a furry squirrel
Finds love and warmth.
There is a rhythm of rest
Fresh-breezy woody
Where beneath his perch
A sweet brook runs
With songs of loving kindness
From the mountain above.
A scholar's balcony embraces all
Not from knowledge
But from a heart that moves
His mind to the expanse
Of the universe
His home.

- Joseph Lai

Afternotes: innovation = knowledge + will + kindness. Our giant fig was killed by the lack of the latter two. There was simply no will for innovative development which could have preserved the tree in-situ. See how a giant fig in Beitou is respectfully preserved between a new 5-star hotel and an old hotspring bath.

Nephrolepis acutifolia

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. 

old seawall and gate

old seawall and steps

old ornated gate

Frond 1.5 to 2m long.

Pinnate frond

Sorus marginal; indusium running almost the entire length of both adaxial and abaxial margin of pinna. 

lanceolate pinnae

Can you see the sporangia peeping out from the knife edge of the margin?

Brown non-persistent scales at the base of stipes

Long slender stipes

Stipe and rachis grooved above

Fiddlehead

Wiry roots with green tips

Rain tree festooned with ferns

Young fern destined for Chek Jawa for planting

Watch this space: spores broadcast into the gaps of an old kampong stone wall in Pulau Ubin!