Here comes October

Black birds are back for black berries.

 The black birds are back again.  They are coming in big flocks.  They make the park sounds busy and noisy.  These birds belong to the Philippines Glossy Starling species. At present they come here to enjoy the delicious berries of the Eugenia oleina trees.  Since these trees are planted at every corner of the park, the excitement is seen everywhere.  These birds flock to the branches that are laden with the black berries and then they might take a rest at nearby perches.  They arrival are most welcomed here.

Ripe to eat

The lantern-like covering that hides the soft berry inside turn yellowish when fully ripe.
Location : Butterfly Garden, Zone C

The fruits of the Letup-Letup are now just ripe to eat.  The fruits are contained in a lantern-like structure that is in reality an enlarged calyx.  The fruits are soft yellowish berries when fully ripe and rounded and taste just like tomatoes.  I like to eat them freshly plucked or can also be served as dessert or in mixed  salad.  The fruits are called 'Letup' because once pressed in a clapping motion between our palms the lantern-like structure breaks and produces a popping 'top-top' sounds, thus the name Letup in Malay.

The Letup-Letup ( Lesser Bladder Cherry) - Physalis minima belongs to the Tomatao family ( Solanaceae)

Just nice for dessert

Letup-Letup or Lesser Bladder Cherry (Physalis minima)

Lesser Bladder Cherry or "Letup-Letup" (Malay)
Physalis minima
Family : Solanaceae - Tomato family

Fruit and flower

 There are plenty of 'Letup-Letup" fruits now at the Butterfly Garden area.   The more well-known variety is called the 'Chinese lantern', the variety we have here is the 'Lesser Bladder Cherry' which is the lesser Chinese lantern.
It is a short-lived herb bearing edible berries which are yellowish when ripe.  These berries taste like tomatoes and are hidden inside the inflated calyx resembling a delicate Chinese lantern.
This plant could be planted as part of edible landscaping or Sara landskap (Malay) in the Malaysian garden
I have done a photo rendart (i.e. photo rendered digitally artistic) below on this plant.

Photo rendart by MOOD, June'16.

Tropical plants

Fresh fruit  bunches of the oil palm(Elaeis guineensis)

Oil palm fruit

Both the oil palm tree and the Cempedak tree are chiefly tropical plants.  The oil palm belongs to the Palmae family and though majority are tree-like there are others in the family that are climbing, a characteristic common in the rattan or 'Rotan' in Malay .    The  Cempedak is a species of woody plant and placed under the Fig family (Moraceae).  Members of the  fig family that are planted for their fruits here are the Artocarpus - Cempedak (Artocarpus integer), Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) and the Ong Lumok or Terap (Artocarpus odiratissimus).

 Cempedak tree (Artocarpus integer)

Pong-Pong fruit compared with Tongkat Ali

Pong-Pong ( Cerbera odollam) fruit and flower
Location : Zone D

 Checkout more pictures of the Pong-Pong here

Tongkat Ali fruit and Pong-Pong compared

Tongkat Ali (Eurycoma longifolia)
Location : Zone C

Check out more pictures of the Tongkat Ali here ..

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

Every day fruiting at the park

Clean cut leaf base for harvesting purpose

The thicker the yellow flesh the more
oil yield is obtained in better hybrids.

 The oil palm tree bears and produces fruits on everyday basis for the next 25 years, which is the economic life of the palm. When harvesting the oil palm fruit bunch, the thick and broad leaf base below it needs to be clean cut.  The bunch of fruits is held by a soft fruit stalk which is easily cut by a sharp curved pruner even at great heights.  Today many varieties of oil palm fruits are produced to obtain more oil yield for the manufacture of cooking oil.   Besides the oil from the yellow flesh (mesocarp), the center of the the fruit which contains the pure white embryo or kernel is also the source of kernel oil.  The seed's protective covering (endocarp) needs to be crushed at the factories to collect the kernel oil.  The remains of the waste endocarps can be used as road metalling.

Oil palm fruits are ovoid and are basally angled due to close packing.  The fruits are coloured variously yellow or orange and overlain with deep violet or black in exposed parts.

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)

The Malay Apple tree is bearing fruit

Jambu Bol or Malay Apple
Syzgium malaccense

The Malay Apple tree - Syzgium malaccense
Family : Myrtaceae
Location : Zone C

The Jambu Bol or Malay Apple tree is bearing fruit for the first time.  It is still a small tree since it was planted about 5 years ago.  The Malay Apple tree is native to Sarawak,  a common tree in the the 60's and 70's that could  be easily seen in kampungs or villages near to towns.  But with the eradication of  kampungs closer to town, it is quite difficult to see them now.  I am fortunate because I have attempted to try planting a few of them at the park for posterity purposes.  The Jambu Bol has many varieties, some are whitish and long, others are oval and pale green and the one planted at the park is the variety with rounded fruit in a mixture of red and white colours on its skin.  It is one of the favourite fruits chosen by Malay women to make the local mixed fruit salad called 'Rojak'.  It is generally sweet in taste.  The tree can be used as ornamental tree and it provides generous shade.

The Rambutans are ripening

Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum)

 There are many exotic tree species in the park and some are fruit trees.  The 'Rambutan' tree that stands at about 50 feet tall has been here for at least 60 years.  It is fruiting right now and is part of the group of fruit trees that bear fruits seasonally towards the year end.  The Rambutans ripens in December till January.  Since this is an original tree (not a cultivar) the fruits tastes slightly sweet sour.  Rambutans are nowadays eaten fresh besides being canned or prepared as a cocktail. Ripe fruits attract all kinds of wildlife especially squirrels, birds and various insects.

View of park - Zone E is at foreground and Zone F at background

Hanging bunches of ripe Rambutans

The Chempedak fruit

Artocarpus is a significant genus of edible fruits in Sarawak - Artocarpus integer or 'Chempedak' in Malay is consumed in many ways..e.g. fritters, seeds are boiled to make porridge or smoked as in 'Likeng'

 This year the Chempedak trees are not fuiting profusely but there again a dozen of these trees at the farm collectively ensures many fruits to share and giveaway.  The big trees at the park have been planted before I was born that is more than 60 years ago.  However those original exotic trees have been preserved for posterity though I managed to add more trees over the years.  The Chempedak is easily mistaken for the Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus)  which is obviously much larger in size. In another blog  I have written a fair bit about the fruit especially the art of smoking it....checkout the story here ..

The original Chempedak trees planted more than 60 years ago are still standing and growing....as seen towering above the oil palm trees or Sawit in Malay.
Oil palm trees are an added crop, well-integrated into the existing landscape and agro-forestry practices at the eco-farm..

Like most trees of the fig family (Moraceae), the Chempedak has white latex to its bark, leaves and skin of the fruit.

Fruits of the 'Ong Lumok' are in season at the park

Oil palm planted together with exotic fruit trees.....a signature idea in the Kambatik park

This month the 'Terap' trees (Artocarpus odoratissimus) or ' Ong Lumok' as called by the Bintulu Melanaus are bearing fruits.  They are seasonal fruits and this season seems to be bountiful.  The concept of oil palm cultivation integrated into existing or newly introduced exotic tree planting is a signature idea in the Kambatik park. In the top picture the over topping tree is the Balem fruit tree and below it the Terap tree.  The oil palm or 'Sawit' in Malay is at the bottom of the picture. Today I gathered a few of the half ripe fruits and will keep them for a day or two for ripening purposes.  The ripe fruits are very soft, sweet and tasty.  Checkout more stories of the many ways to eat the fruit in my blog here ...>>> my Kambatik world...

Fruits of the 'Terap' or Ong Lumok (Melanau) - Artocarpus odoratissimus