tembusu tree at macritchie park along the lornie trail
talking about the use of the unripe fruit of the 'buah cheri' tree as ammunition for our toy guns, chun see mentioned two postings by his friend chuck; one was on lastik and the other on toy gun. i am very impressed by the trouble that chuck went through to present photographic illustrations on how to make the lastik (malay word for catapult) and the toy gun.
i agree with chuck that the fork branch from the tembusu tree makes the best catapult. if properly treated, it can withstand any amount of tension exerted on it by the user. in fact, during my kampong days, we did not know of any other tree which could provide that kind of wood with such resilience and strength.
i remember i used to visit the jewish cemetery nearby which had a few tembusu trees. i would climb the tree to look for a branch of the right shape and size so that i could fashion a lastik out of it. as i was not very skilful at using the lastik, i did not use it very much.
why i am talking about the tembusu tree? because you cannot fail to notice the tembusu trees at this time of the year. they are in full bloom. when i drive along sungei kadut avenue, we i go to macritchie reservoir park (for my nature walks) and even when i visit the marsiling housing estate, i am greeted by the sight of the small, light yellow flowers on these trees.
even when i went to jalan bahar to find out the answer to an interesting quiz question posed by this chap, i could not fail to notice the tembusu trees in bloom at the muslim cemetery of lim chu kang.
the tembusu tree is one of the easiest to identify. apart from the light yellow flowers - which appear twice a year - the distinctive cracked bark is a giveaway. it bears small red berries which attract a lot of birds. as its botanic name suggests, the flowers have a certain fragrance. the smell is strongest in the evening.
one of the most iconic trees in singapore is the tembusu tree. it is found at lawn e of the botanic gardens. it should be more than 150 years. it has been featured on the singapore $5 note and on postage stamps.
