Gardens+Team+4

**Execellent job! Wonderfully presented info (remember to quote source!), but the part that was outstanding was the attempt to make inferences about your observations and common misunderstandings - reflections need more depth though...**

**Team members: Tan Ying Hui (9) and Wong Jing Ting (11)**

**1. Interesting features of the Gardens:** - The offices of the former directors, such as “Ridley Hall” and “Holttum Hall”, were preserved and are now used for other purposes. Henry Nicholas Ridley, or Mad Ridley, was the first director (1888 to 1911) of the Singapore Botanic Gardens. He spearheaded the large-scale rubber cultivation, turning the Singapore Botanic Gardens over to rubber. It was also during the time when he was the director that Singapore's national flower, the Vanda Miss Joaquim, was discovered. Professor Eric Holttum, the second director (1925 to 1949), conducted the first experiments in 1928 in orchid breeding and hybridisation. - The Singapore Herbarium houses a collection of about 650,000 plant specimens and preserves them for research purposes in the future. The plant specimen is collected and sewn carefully onto a special kind of paper. It is then classified and filed systematically for the public to view. - There is an “Orchid Breeding and Micropropagation Laboratory” that creates new orchid hybrid plantlets by taking the cells of potential parents and merging them.

**2. Photos & Facts:** **1. Calophyllum Inophyllum** - Habitat: - Characteristics: - Uses: - Fun fact(s):  **2. Orchid Micro-propagation and Hybridisation** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">New orchid hybrids are created here by taking the cells of potential parents of different species and merging them. The different steps of the process take part in different rooms: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">2.1.Growth Media Preparation Room <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">2.2.Transfer Room <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">2.3.Shaker Room <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">2.4.Culture Room <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**3. Herbarium** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**4. Kapok Tree** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Characteristics: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Uses: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Fun fact(s): <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**5. Rain Tree** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Habitat: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Grows in the grasslands and forests <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Characteristics: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Fun fact(s): <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**6. Sealing Wax Palm/Lipstick Palm** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Habitat: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Characteristics: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Uses: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Fun fact(s): <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**7. Tembusu Tree** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Habitat: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Found in forests in humid or seasonally inundated locations. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Characteristics: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Uses: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Fun fact(s): <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**8. Cannonball Tree** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Habitat: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Found only in tropical zones. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Characteristics: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Uses: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Fun fact(s): <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**9. Simpoh Air** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Habitat: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Grows on eroded soil, wasteland, forest edges, and in swampy areas <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Characteristics: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Uses: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Fun fact(s):
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Found on sandy beaches and lowland forests in tropical regions of the world from East Africa to the West Pacific, including Singapore
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Low-branching and slow-growing
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Massive branches and a broad dense crown (parts of the plant that is above ground)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Dark fissured bark, thick glossy leaves, and white fragrant flowers
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Various parts of the tree are used in traditional medicines
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Wood can be used for construction or boatbuilding
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Dark green oil from seeds can be used for medicinal purposes or as hair grease
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Seed oil was used as a fuel to generate electricity to provide power for radios during World War II
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Follow special recipes to prepare the food (growth media) necessary to feed the tissue or seeds
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Precise amounts of mineral nutrients, plant hormones, vitamins, sugar and other ingredients are added to agar agar jelly
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Mixture is sterilized by steaming to prevent the growth of bacteria and fungi
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Seeds and plant tissue are put into the growth media
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Plantlets are separated and transferred to new flasks when they become too crowded in a flask
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Done in laminar-flow cabinets which provide clean, filtered air to ensure that the environment is free of air-borne germs
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Flasks containing the plantlets are shaken
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">To improve the supply of air and nutrients to the tissue
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">To confuse the tissue, without a sense of gravity, they do not differentiate into shoots and roots but grow into more tissue
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Stops shaking when enough tissue has been formed to let plantlets (with shoots and roots) develop
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">A lot of plantlets can be obtained from the clusters of tissue in the flasks
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Environment is just right with the right temperature, lighting, and humidity to help the plantlets grow
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Wall-mounted sterilizers remove air-borne germs from the air in the room
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Collects plant specimens, and then sews it to special paper and files it systematically for the public to view and for research purposes
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Has a main collection of about 650,000 species
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Thin, plank-like buttresses (large roots)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Crown has an open umbrella shape
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Grey coloured trunk is covered in thorns
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Flowers emit a foul odour that attracts the bats that pollinate them
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Straight trunks are used to make boats
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Timber is used to make furniture, boxes and crates
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Whitish cotton like fiber surrounds the brown seeds inside the pods Seeds, leaves, bark and resin (hydrocarbon secretion) are used for medicinal purposes, such as to treat fever, asthma, and kidney disease
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Oil in the seeds can be used to make soap
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Fiber found in the pods were used to replace cotton in the past
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Wide-canopied, with a large crown
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Leaves fold in rainy weather and in the evening
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Pink coloured flowers
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Lumpy, long pods are thick and slightly curved, filled with a sweet edible pulp
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Many other names, such as “Monkey Pod” and “Five O’clock Tree”
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Resilient plant grows well in various conditions
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Has multiple thin trunks that grow in clusters
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Dark green leaves that grow upward
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Greenish flowers
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Boiled red petioles were used as a red sealing wax
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Red sealing wax made from the plant was used by nobles
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Dark brown trunk
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Deeply fissured bark
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Light green and oval-shaped leaves
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Yellow, small flowers
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Red fruits are bitter tasting
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Wood is resistant to rot and termite attacks and is therefore used for boats and bridges, as well as flooring and furniture
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Boiled bark can be used for medicinal purposes
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Wood is also used to make the chopping boards used at the food stalls in Singapore
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Large fruits has the size and shape of a cannonball
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Fruits and flowers grow from branches which sprout from the trunk of the tree
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Pink flowers
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Fruits are edible
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Flowers can be used to scent perfumes and cosmetics, and are also used in temples
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Hard shells of the fruit can be used as containers
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Fruits emit a foul smell when exposed to the air
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">There is a sound of a small explosion when the fruit falls and cracks open
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Large leaves
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Large yellow flowers with only five petals each, flower buds face down
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Red fruits that split open, and can be mistaken for a flower, fruit buds face up
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Leaves were used or formed into shallow cones to contain or wrap food
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Used to staunch bleeding wounds
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Fruit pulp may be used to wash the hair
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Plant can live for 50 – 100 years
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Plant hisses when the trunk or branch is cut (although you have to put your ear to the cut to hear it), the sound is that of the air being sucked into the cut vessels
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">As the plant sends out very deep roots to reach underground water sources, their presence indicates an underground water source, and some use the plant as a guide to dig a well

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**3. Biological/ Ecological facts:** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- The National Orchid Garden, which is within the Botanic Gardens, has more than 20,000 orchid plants on display. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- It has more than 20,000 rare and precious tropical flowers and trees. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- There is a natural forest that covers 4 hectares of the Botanic Gardens. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- There are currently 14 heritage trees in the Botanic Gardens, compared to 11 in August 2002, when the Heritage Tree Scheme had just started.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">4. Misunderstanding(s): **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**Misunderstanding(s)** || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**What we know now** ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">It is okay to sit on the branch of the Tembusu Tree to chit-chat or take photos. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The guide told us that people are not supposed to sit on the tree branch as it will add to the weight of the tree branch and it may not be able to support the weight (even with poles supporting it) and may break. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">All trees have wrinkles on their trunk. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Only old trees have wrinkles on their trunks. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Big trees have big flowers. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Big trees need not have big flowers. Trees such as the Tembusu Tree, Kapok Tree, Rain Tree, and the Calophyllum Inophyllum all have small but pretty flowers. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The Rain Tree's seed pod's sap is inedible. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Even though not many people know this, the sap of the Rain Tree's seed pod is sugary and edible. ||

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**5. Inferences: Our thoughts** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">What does native mean? This means plants that developed or occurred naturally, without human intervention. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">What does alien or invasive mean? This means plants or animals that were introduced and non-native. Invasive plants are either accidentally or deliberately introduced, and in Singapore’s case, to quicken the pace of the idea of a garden city. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">So, what is the problem? By introducing too many alien species, the native species may be affected as they will have to compete for resources. It may also upset the balance of the ecosystem.
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Examples of Native Plants ** || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Examples of Alien (Invasive Species) ** ||
 * <span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 23px;">Tembusu Tree, Kapok Tree || <span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 23px;">Rain Tree, Angsana Tree ||

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Is Singapore ecologically diverse? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Firstly, what does being ecologically diverse mean? It means having a variety of biological communities and ecosystems in an area. Based on our observations in the Botanic Gardens, we can say that there are many different species of plants there, both native and invasive. However, what about in the other parts of Singapore? Take Bukit Timah Nature Reserve for example, it is a protected primary rainforest reserve with a rich variety of plants and animals. It is so ecologically diverse that conservationist Dr. David Bellamy said that there were more plant species in the reserve than in the whole of North America. Along the streets of Singapore, we also see many different trees and flowers, such as the Rain Tree, Ixora, and the occasional Frangipani. Therefore, we can conclude that Singapore is ecologically diverse, with both native and invasive species, and that Singapore deserves the title of "Garden City".