From tiny buds to scented flowers

A flowering jungle vine or liana
Location: Provinsi Liana, Botanic Island Two

Flowers are mildly scented

 One of the strict standards of performance at the park is the preservation of jungle lianas or climbers, especially those that form the natural biodiversity here. There are at present four botanical islands that act as sanctuaries for these jungle climbers.  Today I encountered one species of a jungle climber which has just about to start flowering.  Just the other day, I took photographs of the buds alone.  Today the buds have burst into flowers.  The flowers are  creamy yellow or pale yellow in colour and are mildy scented.  Not many studies are done on lianas in Sarawak or the big island of Borneo especially their role in the jungle ecology.  So what I think  urgently important is just to preserve them for posterity and later research.  One intriguing aspect of the climbers I find in the park especially in the botanic islands where they abound is their habit of climbing over the tall canopy of big trees and with their weight often snap the top section of the trees.  This act bring down big masses of forest cover and slowly decompose as dead matter on the forest floor.   In the long run, I think they selectively remove the forest ecology of weaker pioneer species to give way for more permanent tall and hard tree varieties.  Secondly, the rotting masses enrich the forest floor with nutrients and cover for the newer and stronger species to thrive.

Jungle vine with flowers.  Species is still unknown.