Highlights today at the park - 28 Nov'15

Great Mormon (Papilio memnon agenor)
Zone C

Ong Lumok (Bintulu Melanau) - Artocarpus
Zone B

Oriental Magpie-robin (Copsychus saularis)
Zone B

Yellow-bellied Prinia (Prinia flaviventris)
Zone C

Just google "Ong Lumok"

 The Ong Lumok is my kind of fruit.  It is pulpy sweet.  Very sweet indeed that I can finish three big fruits in one session.  I have written a fair bit on this fruit and to prove it just google "Ong Lumok" and you'll see most of the pictures and write-up on this fruit online  is from the Kambatik Park.  It is a seasonal fruit, known by Malays as "Terap" but the Bintulu Melanaus call it "Ong Lumok" or fruit of the Lumok tree.  "Ong" in Bintulu Melanau means fruit.  The Ong Lumok is a basic tree that is well-integrated into the agro-forestry practice at Kambatik Park.  The reason is obvious.  The fruits are edible to humans and wildlife and their seasonal fruiting makes the park an added attraction to all sorts of wildlife, birds, insects, butterflies and a myriad variety of flies.  Count the Ong Lumok as one fruit you must taste before you die!!  Long live the Ong Lumok.

Ong Lumok (Bintulu Melanau) - Terap (Malay)
Artocarpus odoratissimus
Location: Zone C

Tie a staghorn on the old Lumok tree

Lumok tree (Artocarpus odoratissimus) is seen at center
Location : Zone C

Staghorn fern ( Platycerium coronarium  ) secured on the branches.

The park has a considerable number of Staghorn ferns that grew naturally in the Botanical Islands and well-preserved for posterity.   I have accumulated a number of plantlets over the years and tender them till they grow reasonably big.  Today I decided to place one on an old Lumok tree.  The above pictures show the result of the work.

Plucking the Ong Lumok and in-flight serving

Bamboo pole with fork used to snap the soft fruit stalk

Ong Lumok - the brownish one is over-ripe

 We were collecting Ong Lumok ( Artocarpus odoratissimus) fruits this morning.  The Ong Lumok tree is tall with broad maple-like leaves.  The fruits look like canon balls and out of the ancient world.  Its sweet pulpy fruits are one of my favourite seasonal fruits.  The season of the Ong Lumok is almost over now but there are still fruits hanging on the tree for the plucking.  To reach them I used a long bamboo pole with a fork at the tip.  A firm twist will do as the fruit stalk is soft.  Once detached from the main branch bring the pole slowly down so as not to drop the fruit.  If dropped the fruit can easily be smashed into pieces.  The Ong Lumok fruit attracts plenty of wildlife e.g. squirrels, tree lizards, birds etc.. However today was time for in-flight serving.  The  Yellow -vented Bulbul hoovered close to the very ripe fruit to enjoy the pulpy flesh ...Check out the pictures below....

Sweet and delicious.  Best eaten immediately after plucking...Oh, tropical paradise!

Yellow-vented Bulbul enjoying in-flight serving

Posts about the Ong Lumok

Ong Lumok by the Kambatik stream

 The Ong Lumok ( Artocarpus odoratissimus) is an important tree for its ecological diversity's  contribution to the park.  This tree is native to Bintulu or Borneo island in the broader sense.  Over the years I have uploaded loads of pictures on this tree and its fruits.  The collection of images I shared on the internet is shown in this link here....>>> https://www.google.com.my/search?q=ong+lumok&client=firefox-a&hs=OmI&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=UePhU4ffLIayuAT1kYLoBg&ved=0CFwQ7Ak4Cg&biw=1010&bih=476


 Google searches on the words 'Ong Lumok' will reveal a dozen or more posts from the Kambatik park on this tree as in here...>>>https://www.google.com.my/search?q=ong+lumok&client=firefox-a&hs=InI&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&source=lnms&sa=X&ei=iePhU7HVBZOfugTv74LgAQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAA&biw=1010&bih=476&dpr=1.33

 The tree size and height, broad leaves and its large round fruits will no doubt make the fruit tree appear ancient and out of this world.  The Ong Lumok tree is indeed tropical nature's heritage to the world.

Ong Lumok trees as part of the ecological diversity make-up at Kambatik park

The Artocarpus fruit trees

Cempedak - Artocarpus champeden
Alt: Artocarpus integer
Zone G: Cempedak Hill

There are four species of the 'bread fruit' genera (Artocarpus) that are planted for posterity and production purposes at the park.  The most unique among them to me is the 'Ong Lumok' (Bintulu Melanau) which is also called as 'Terap' in Malay.  Others in the line up are the 'Cempedak' (Artocarpus integer), 'Nangka' or Jackruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) and the 'Sukun' or Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis).  Artocarpus belong to the fig family (Moraceae).  The genus 'Artocarpus' is named after the Greek word; artos = bread, karpos = fruit.  For many people of the Pacific islands the popularity of the breadfruit as the 'staff of life' has been recognised over generations being their staple food, like rice for orientals.    Artocarpus trees tend to be cauliflory whereby  many in the genus bear flowers and fruits on trunks or branches.  All Artocarpus trees have a  peculiar form of flower head which resembles a bur on a stalk.  This structure bears flowers so small that they have to be dissected under a microscope.  For more images of Sarawak's unique fruits, check them out in another blog of mine here ...>>>http://mysarawak2.blogspot.com/p/unique-fruits.html

Ong Lumok - Artocarpus odoratissimus

Nangka - Artocarpus heterophyllus

Leaves of the Sukun or Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis)

Ong Lumok fruit

Unripe fruits of 'Terap' (Malay) - Artocarpus odoratissimus

 The Ong Lumok trees (Artocarpus odoratissimus )  at the park are showing promise.  They are bearing fruits.  In Malay it is called 'Terap'.  It is a unique fruit found mainly on Borneo island.  "Ong" in Bintulu Melanau means fruit, thus the Lumok fruit.  There are a handful of very old Lumok trees at the park, planted more than 50 years ago and still bearing fruits.  The picture above shows unripe fruits from a tree grown just about 5 years ago.  In about a month's time the fruits will be ripe for the taking.

Ong Lumok tree at the foreground
Location : Zone F