Simpoh Malesia

All about learning Dillenia

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Blooms of Dillenia sumatrana

The photo above is the blooming flower of Dillenia sumatrana Miq. I'd bumped into this species in my recent trip to Pasoh Forest Reserve. According to Encik Abu, this species is very common in Pasoh. I'm fortunate to have a sighting of this blooming flower. The tree is about 2-2.5 metre tall with greyish-brown bark. It's a pity that i didn't have time to capture the habit of this tree. I noticed that the flower of this species faces upwards when bloom.

The flower of simpoh bukit is quite small about 2.5-3 cm diameter. One of the diagnostic characters for this species is the inflorescence of this species are usually available in pairs or triplets at the terminal of twig. Besides that, the sepals and pedicels of this species are very densely hirsute (yellowish-white) and the indumentum will turn more golden in colour when dried. The petals are obovate, golden or egg-yolk yellow and are caducuous in the evening. As this is my first sighting of the bloom of this species, i managed to notice that the stamens are divided into two distinct parts. The inner stamens are longer and the tips are slightly bended outwards while the outer stamens are shorter (photo below). Both stamens are yellow in colour. Meanwhile, from top the style are pearl white and forming star-like shape. Besides that, the carpel are cylindrical in shape (photo below).