Bottle Tree Park – Part Two

This is our second visit to Bottle Tree Park. To read about our other experiences at this location, check out http://joyloh.com/blog/?s=bottle+tree! We saw a little more of the park than before today :)

Scott replicating my pose with the bottle tree…

The Calabash tree (Crescentia cujete) is a plant native to Central and South America. The greenish-yellow flowers are marked with purple veins. The flowers arise from the trunk or main branches and appear from May through January. The woody fruit, botanically a capsule, is elliptic, ovate, or spherical and may grow to 10 inches in diameter. The fruit takes up to seven months to ripen. Fibres from the calabash tree were twisted into twine and ropes. The hard wood made tools and tool handles. The split wood was woven for sturdy baskets. But it was the calabash’s gourd-like fruit that made the plant truly useful. Large calabashes were used as bowls and, peculiarly, to disguise the heads of hunters.

Today’s visit started off with lunch at the seafood restaurant. We had a plate of crabmeat fried rice (enough for 3-4 persons), mixed hor fun (enough for 1-2 persons), and crispy duck. The bill came up to about $50 for the four of us – sorry, no pictures of food as we were too hungry. We did have the time to walk around the park a little after lunch and found some interesting sub-tenants there.

A seafood market…

Live seafood for sale – wholesale and retail…

They also sell fresh fish on ice (already dead of course)

Also on display was the very deadly Stonefish. Synanceia is a genus of fish of the family Synanceiidae, the Stonefishes, whose members are venomous and dangerous and/or fatal to humans. It is the most venomous fish in the world. They are found in the coastal regions of Indo-Pacific oceans. Its species have potent neurotoxins secreted from glands at the base of their needle-like dorsal fin spines which stick up when disturbed or threatened. The vernacular name of the species, the stonefish, derives from being able to camouflage and transform itself to a gray and mottled color as similar to the color of a stone.

Scott and dad grinning back at the Stonefish…

Walking along, we spotted an aviary of beautiful Golden Pheasants AKA Chinese Pheasants (Chrysolophus pictus). Golden pheasants are gorgeous birds endemic to the mountains of Central China. The Golden Pheasant belongs to a group called “ruffed pheasants” because of their “cape”. The cock golden pheasant, once mature, with his wonderful array of colours, is one of the worlds brightest birds.

In partnership and support with Bottle Tree Park, Just Green Pte Ltd and Ground-Up Initiative (GUI), the idea of SURF (Sustainable URban Farms) Initiative was conceived and kicked off on 24th April 2009.

Ground-Up Initiative (GUI) is a volunteer organisation and community founded to serve humanity and care for the Earth. Inspired by the words of Mahatma Gandhi: “Be the change you want to see in the world.” GUI acts on its vision of a better, kinder world: “Connecting People… Connecting Earth… A Way to Heal the Land and Heal the Human Spirit.” Living, Greening and Giving are key concepts – Living life fully and with passion, Greening our environment consciously, and with a Giving spirit to serve one another an dthe earth. More on GUI at www.groundupinitiative.org.