The Newsletter of the Singapore Botanic Gardens Volume 30, January 2008 Issn 12-1688
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Gardenwise THE NEWSLETTER OF THE SINGAPORE BOTANIC GARDENS VOLUME 30, JANUARY 2008 ISSN 12-1688 43 ggardenwiseardenwise janjan 2008.indd2008.indd 4343 33/11/08/11/08 55:16:19:16:19 PMPM C o n t e n t s Author(s) Message from the Director Chin See Chung 1 Articles A Very Happy Place Chin See Chung 2 - Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden Curious about Convolvulaceae? George Staples 6 From Poison to Food Chin See Chung 9 Begonias of Sumatra Mark Hughes & 12 Deden Girmansyah Birds of the Singapore Botanic Gardens Morten Strange 14 Botanical Research Fellows in the Gardens Serena Lee & Benito C. Tan 20 Regular Features Around the Gardens ❖ Events Yusof Nahrawi 22 ❖ Celebration of the 300th Birth Anniversary Benito C. Tan & Janice Yau 24 of Carl Linnaeus ❖ “Stars” of Singapore Garden Festival 2008 Terri Oh 25 Unveiled Notes from the Economic Garden ❖ The Grand Old Rubber Tree and a Sketch Ali Ibrahim & Tham Pui San 26 to Stretch Ridley’s Imagination New & Exciting ❖ Duabanga grandifl ora Andrea Kee 27 Beremban Bukit, Lampati What’s Blooming ❖ A Sight to Behold… Nura Abdul Karim 28 From the Education Outreach ❖ Enticing Children to the Jacob Ballas Winnie Wong 30 Children’s Garden ❖ Mandarin Tour for Primary Schools David Liew & Janice Yau 32 – A First for the Gardens’ Education From the Taxonomy Corner ❖ Linnaeus’ Sexual System George Staples 33 From the Orchid Species Collection ❖ Dendrobium x usitae Hubert Kurzweil 34 & Yam Tim Wing Ginger and its Allies ❖ The Genus Plagiostachys Jana Leong-Skornickova 35 Book Review ❖ The Genus Roscoea by Jill Cowley Jana Leong-Skornickova 36 Key Visitors to the Gardens (July to December 2007) 37 From the Archives ❖ Species and Genera Plantarum Hassan Ibrahim 38 Front Cover: Editor Asst. Editors Production Manager Dendrobium x usitae Chin See Chung Hassan Ibrahim Hassan Ibrahim that fl owered in the Cool House Kho Soo Pei of the National Orchid Garden Singapore Botanic Gardens, 1 Cluny Road, Singapore 259569 Photo by: Hubert Kurzweil NATIONAL PARKS BOARD Gardenwise Gardenwise [email protected] www.sbg.org.sg 40 www.nparks.gov.sg ggardenwiseardenwise janjan 2008.indd2008.indd 4040 33/11/08/11/08 55:16:45:16:45 PMPM MMessageessage fromfrom thethe DDirectorirector any individuals have told us that they They have become familiar places for the Mremember happy moments in the very many visitors who make repeat visits Gardens during visits long ago, when they over the decades. Happy memories of times were children. They are now bringing their spent in the Gardens during childhood are children or grandchildren to the Gardens to reinforced during courtship, parenthood and places they loved. Places that are specially grandparenthood. remembered fondly include the large lawn parallel to Swan Lake (Lawn E) and the large We have enhanced the Gardens as a memory Tembusu tree in it, Swan Lake, Bandstand maker with the opening of the new Children’s and the Plant House. The champion memory Garden on 1 Oct 2007. This allows the maker seems to be the Tembusu tree. This Gardens to reach out to an extremely has a low-growing almost horizontal branch, important group of customers. It is a fun place eminently suitable for climbing. According where children can develop their appreciation to a late staff, Mohd Shah, it looked the for plants, conservation and the environment. same in the 1950s. Today, as then, children We hope all children will leave with happy delight in climbing, sitting and crawling on memories. And plants and the environment this large branch, half to two metres above may have nurtured another friend. the ground. The many faces of the Gardens have captured Countless smiles in countless photographs, the imagination and loyalty of its visitors, both taken over the years, have documented many local and foreign. Specifi c icons, trees and of the millions of visits to the Gardens. In landscapes that provided happy moments are thousands of homes, in albums, drawers, permanently etched into individual memories. and chests, some long forgotten, there must They give many Singaporeans a comfortable be more photographs of the Gardens than sense of place of a piece of home. any other happy place in Singapore. As if to formalize this distinction, the Tembusu tree on The Gardens is a national treasure and Lawn E is also immortalized on Singapore’s heritage. The happy memories and sense fi ve-dollar bill. of place it provides to Singaporeans, add immensely to its value. We who manage its Singapore is a new city with much of its hallowed grounds are temporal custodians concrete and asphalt laid after independence for the generations to come. This, we should in 1965. It continually changes at a rapid rate. always remember. As neighbourhoods and landscapes change, endearing places in memories are ripped up and erased. However, most parts of the Gardens have remained clearly identifi able. Chin See Chung 1 ggardenwiseardenwise janjan 2008.indd2008.indd 1 33/11/08/11/08 55:16:47:16:47 PMPM A VeryVery HappyHappy PlacePlace – JJacobacob BBallasallas CChildren’shildren’s GGardenarden The entrance to the Children’s Garden Growing an Idea for the children of Singapore. We then planned to visit By the late 1990s, it was evident that the demand for selected gardens in the USA, as it was the only country children’s programmes run by the Gardens was very we knew with children’s gardens. strong. At the 1st World Botanic Gardens Congress in June 2000 in Asheville, North Carolina, USA, In September 2000, we visited Everett Children’s the session on reaching out to children through Adventure Garden at the New York Botanical Garden, specially crafted gardens generated tremendous interest. The Hershey Children’s Garden at the Cleveland Presentations were made by the several Botanic Gardens Botanical Garden and Egleston Scottish Rite Children’s with dedicated Children’s Gardens. They included the Garden at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. En route we New York Botanical Garden, Cleveland Botanical visited Diana, Princess of Wales’ Memorial Playground Garden, Ohio, and Red Butte Garden, Utah. The in London. Cleveland Botanical Garden reported that their visitorship doubled after the opening of their children’s It was a tremendous learning experience; we were garden. enthralled by what we saw. We were sure that we would all enjoy planning, crafting and implementing a One paper was entitled, “Managing a Children’s children’s garden. We would like to sincerely thank the Garden, Survivors Tale”. It was clear, running a managers of the gardens we visited for sharing with us children’s garden is not without frustrations and their experiences, joys and frustrations. unusual challenges. But such a garden would be fun to run, well received and thoroughly enjoyed by kids. The Concept It will be a tremendous boost in fulfi lling the botanic We developed our guiding philosophy, “creating happy gardens’ mission of reaching out to children with plant, memories for children in a fun and wonderful garden to gardening and conservation messages and information. develop their appreciation for plants, conservation and It was also repeatedly emphasized that, “anything that the environment”. It will be a garden where children can be broken, will be broken”. can explore and run and enjoy, and where creative play is encouraged. The design and plantings will be We immediately decided that we could move children’s thoughtfully crafted so children will be fascinated and education to a higher plane with a dedicated garden in their explorations develop a sense of curiosity and 2 ggardenwiseardenwise janjan 2008.indd2008.indd 2 33/11/08/11/08 55:16:48:16:48 PMPM AArticlerticle wonder. It will be a garden where they will feel safe and interpretation and guided programmes and (v) amenities, comfortable, but it will be garden that will be visually including four classrooms. Some of these areas would stimulating and physically challenging. Children will overlap to maximise the space we have. We decided be able to touch and investigate plant textures, forms, on using the butterfl y form as a motif in the design of tastes and smells. We believe that exploration and play in features in the garden. Butterfl ies represent change and such a garden will help the child develop intellectually, life, activity, joy and beauty. socially and physically. They could participate in guided programmes if they wished. The overarching theme will The physical elements in the Children’s Garden may be be “all life on earth depends on plants”. conveniently divided into fun features and plant features. Important elements are outlined here. While the Children’s Garden is a complex, living outdoor library and classroom, the emphasis is on fun. With these Fun Features guidelines established, we drafted a concept plan. This Specifi c non-plant fun features, guided by our theme gave in considerable detail all the different features we of “laughter and joy” are integrated into the “Fantastic hoped to see. Forest” and elsewhere. For the very young, there is a sand pit with several play equipment. Adjacent to this A 2-ha plot of land in the Botanic Gardens was identifi ed is a water play area with water jets that can be activated taking into consideration, access, parking and existing by kids. The area also has several mechanical pumps vegetation. Next, funding was sought and a development where children can collect water to give the potted plants A Very Happy Place team that included educational specialists, botanists, placed on a rack nearby, a drink. Plastic watering cans horticulturists and an artist was formed. are provided and children can have fun ‘looking after’ plants. – Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden We received a major donation with contributions from the Jacob Ballas Estate, Dr Rosslyn Leong and Reef Holdings Pte Ltd.