1. Photos and Info About the Botanic Gardens Trip [1] Captions Included

2. Ceiba Pentandra Var. Caribaea Common Names: Kapok Tree, White Silk Cotton Tree Origins: West Africa, Tropical America, India, South-east Asia Age: 80-90 years old Family: Bombacaceae Genus: Ceiba. Mill This tree can grow up to 45 metres tall, is fast growing, and it sheds its leaves periodically. It has a Pagoda-shaped crown, tiered and horizontal branches. Its flowers are yellow, white or pink and give out a milky smell. The fruits are in a form of green capsules that appears 3 months after flowering. In the past, when cotton wasn’t used, the fibre in the seeds of this tree was used to replace cotton. The soft fibre in the seeds was creamy in colour, and has the same texture as cotton.

3. Photos for the Kapok tree The photo to the left is the roots of the kapok tree. The photo above is the introduction of the kapok tree. This photo below is around the middle of the tree.

4. Lodoicea Maldivica Common Names: Coco-de-mer, Double coconut, Sea Coconut, Bum seed, Love Nut, Seychelles Nut Origins: Islands of Praslin and Curieuse in the Seychelles Family: Arecaceae Sub-family: Coryphoideae Genus: Lodoicea This tree can grow up to 34 metres tall and has a dense crown. This is an ornamental tree and is used in Ayurvedic medicine and in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Its fan-shaped leaves can grow 7-10 metres long and 4.5 metres wide with a 4 metres long petiole. Its flowers are catkin-like and can grow up to 1 metre long. Its fruit, when horizontally cut, looks like two separate coconuts, but it is inedible. Mature fruit is 40-50 cm in diameter and can weigh 15-30 kg. The heaviest in history was 42kg, so be very careful when walking under a Double coconut tree. Its fruit takes 6-7 years to mature, and takes about 15 years to grow into a sapling.

5. Photos for Double Coconut Tree The photo below is the fruit of the double coconut tree. The photo below shows the bottom view of the top of the double coconut tree. The photo above is the information of newest double coconut tree sapling.

6. Calophyllum inophyllum Common Names: Penaga Laut, Indian laurel, Laurel wood Origins: Northern Australia, South-east Asia, Islands on Indian and Pacific Ocean Age: More than 100 years old Family: Guttiferae This tree is the oldest in the botanical gardens. It is slow-growing, and it grows mainly in coastal areas. This tree can grow more than 30 metres tall and have a large, spreading dense crown. It has small, white flowers with a yellow center. The flowers let out a sweet fragrance and open only at night. The lifespan of the flowers is very short. It usually withers and drop off the morning after it opened. It is characterized by dark, fissured bark and thick glossy leaves. Various parts of the tree is used for traditional medicine, as well as beauty cosmetics.

7. Photos for the Laurel wood The photo above is information about the Laurel wood. The photos above and below are pictures of the Laurel wood.