Thursday, May 10, 2012

Floral Series : 4-o-clock Flower Shrub (Scientific Name : Mirabilis jalapa)

This is a flowering shrub that was found in my granny's home garden while I was a kid. I could still recall one of my sisters stuffing the seeds into her nose & being admitted to the hospital when the seed got stuck at the entrance of her nostril!

I was quite surprised when I learnt that the shrub's country of origin was in Peru, which explains why it was also known as the Marvel of Peru. Whoa, that's a loooong drift all the way here to Singapore ...

Seeds of the flowering shrub which are easily collected by picking on the black ones as shown in the photograph below.

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These seeds would then germinate easily in the soil & grow into seedlings, which would subsequently develop into a flowering shrub if the conditions are right.

Photographs (of the 4-o-clock flowering shrub) taken by my hubby at the Pasir Ris Park:
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For more information about this flowering shrub and other types of plants or animals, please visit National Park's Flora & Fauna Web at the following link:
http://florafaunaweb.nparks.gov.sg/Home.aspx

It's a plant & animal dictionary and is definitely useful & informative.

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