Spiral Flowers in the Sandy Forests of Preah Vihear
>> Friday, January 1, 2010
A constant worry I have in this blog is that I am representing domesticated flowering trees I encounter here in Cambodia more often than wild ones. However, the tree featured in this post is definitely wild.I found it on sandy, hilly terrain, in a sparse deciduous forest, ten kilometers from the main highway in Preah Vihear Province, during my recent trip there to locate semi-precious gemstone mines near Phnom Deik (Iron Mountain).
I will admit that if flowers had not fallen onto the sandy trail I was following, I would never have noticed the tree. I was focused so intensely on the sand, worried every moment that the bike would slide out from under me that I did not lift my eyes to the trees passing overhead. But the flowers scattered in the sand caught my eye and I stopped.
The body of the bloom is white, the open petals a saturated purple. The petals individuate from the calyx, but twist their way to form the corolla giving the flower a pleasing spiral body. It was not the flower itself that caught my eye as such, but those spiralling petals. The leaves are clearly veined and the tree seems to be under attack by the large red ants that here in Cambodia infest many trees and feast on their leaves
I will admit that if flowers had not fallen onto the sandy trail I was following, I would never have noticed the tree. I was focused so intensely on the sand, worried every moment that the bike would slide out from under me that I did not lift my eyes to the trees passing overhead. But the flowers scattered in the sand caught my eye and I stopped.
The body of the bloom is white, the open petals a saturated purple. The petals individuate from the calyx, but twist their way to form the corolla giving the flower a pleasing spiral body. It was not the flower itself that caught my eye as such, but those spiralling petals. The leaves are clearly veined and the tree seems to be under attack by the large red ants that here in Cambodia infest many trees and feast on their leaves
I have an unimpeded view from my motorcycle seat and it is easy to check out the trees that I pass when I travel (unless I am worried about dumping my bike in sand or mud). On this trip, I spent a lot of time on the major highways between Phnom Penh and Preah Vihear and I realized how easy it is to find trees in each of the different phases of the plant growth and reproductive cycles in this new year.
This tree, with its beautiful, plum (or amethyst) coler, like the mango and acacia, is in bloom as if it were spring.
Other trees that I encountered on this trip, rubber and teak for example, are losing their leaves and taking a rest, as if this were fall and winter for them.
Still others, like the milk fruit tree (Chrysophyllum cainito), carry ripening fruit. I saw the green and purple apple-sized fruit being offered from stands along National Route 6 in Kampong Thom; I now regret not stopping, they are as sweet a fruit taste as you will find. (Check out Bronwyn Sloan's description :)
How about seeds? Some trees are also now producing. After coming out of Preah Vihear I visited the temple mountain at Phnom Pros in Kampong Cham Province. I had collected Beng seeds (Afzelia xylocarpa (Kurz) Craib) there in each of the last two years for our tree seed project in Ratanakiri (surprised as always that no one had cut them down yet) and found that the trees are again full of seed pods.
This tree, with its beautiful, plum (or amethyst) coler, like the mango and acacia, is in bloom as if it were spring.
Other trees that I encountered on this trip, rubber and teak for example, are losing their leaves and taking a rest, as if this were fall and winter for them.
Still others, like the milk fruit tree (Chrysophyllum cainito), carry ripening fruit. I saw the green and purple apple-sized fruit being offered from stands along National Route 6 in Kampong Thom; I now regret not stopping, they are as sweet a fruit taste as you will find. (Check out Bronwyn Sloan's description :)
How about seeds? Some trees are also now producing. After coming out of Preah Vihear I visited the temple mountain at Phnom Pros in Kampong Cham Province. I had collected Beng seeds (Afzelia xylocarpa (Kurz) Craib) there in each of the last two years for our tree seed project in Ratanakiri (surprised as always that no one had cut them down yet) and found that the trees are again full of seed pods.
And
I have been seeking seeds, largely unsuccessfully for the past month, for the Kraw Nyung tree (Dalbergia cochinchinensis Pierre). They have just stopped producing.I had learned at the Ministry of Forestry in Phnom Penh that they are so rare and difficult to find now that a kilogram costs $US 300. This tree is the most sought after luxury wood here, a member of the Rosewood family, and it, like the Beng, another luxury wood, highly sought after, are now at the end of their reproductive cycle.
So if there is seasonal synchrony in the reproductive cycles among deciduous trees in the more northern areas of this hemisphere (e.g. my own home, the United States) I have seen little evidence of that here. In this, the coolest month of the Cambodian year (and the depth of winter in the US) I was lucky to encounter a new tree that is producing its spiral blooms as if it were Spring. By the time the rains come in June and the country explodes into bloom and vegetative growth again, it will be seeding out!
In the US we know what trees do in the fall, how most rest in the winter, and what happens in the spring and summer. But in Cambodia, just about any month of the year you are likely to encounter seeding and flowering trees! And that reminds me, the milk fruit fruiting season is quite short, I better head to the market and get some before they run out!
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