Barringtonia racemosa

Known as the Common Putat or Fish-Killer Tree, they can be found in Southern and Eastern Africa, Madagascar, Republic of Seychelles, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, throughout Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands to Northern Australia.

A small tree of about 4 to 8m, the Pulat has a grey to yellow to brown bark that is may ranges from mottled to smooth to fissured. The leaves are oblong and large, crowding at the ends of branches. 

The white to pale pink flowers are attractive and pendulous and in racemes, growing up to 60cm in length. The floral parts are all in 4s. The seeds are fragrant. The Putat is an endangered tree in Singapore as its back mangrove habitat is threatened by urban development. This tree contains a chemical called saponin that can stun fish in the water. Its flowers are arranged in a string-like fashion called “raceme” from which the plant got its scientific name. It consists of a central axis with stalked flowers along it with the youngest at the tip and the older ones progressively lower Keep a lookout for its flowers around May, which are pink and delicate.

It is the food plant for caterpillars of the moths Attacus atlas (Atlas Moth), Gnathmocerodes tonsoria, and Thosea andamanica. Its flowers are pollinated by bats and moths. 

The young or cooked leaves (to remove their bitterness) are edible. The pounded seeds are used to make edible flour.

The seeds, bark, leaves, fruits, and roots are used medicinally for various ailments and diseases.

The wood is utilized as firewood, and for construction. The bark provides a source of fibre. 

The powdered bark and all other parts of the plant were exploited as a fish poison, while their extracts may be used as an insecticide. The bark and roots are used as tanning agents as they contain high levels of tannin. It is occasionally cultivated as an ornamental tree along roadsides. 

Macaranga gigantea

The Giant Mahang can be found in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo.

The Giant Mahang is a tall tree with a spreading crown, growing to about 30m tall. 

The leaves of the Giant Mahang are alternate and large, about 40cm in size. They have 3 shallow lobes, are palmately-veined, have a toothed margin, and are hairy on the underside. Stipules present are light green, papery, and hairy.

The flowers are greenish and grow within bundles within bracts which form part of the large branched inflorescences. 

Fruits are less than 1cm in diameter and can range from green to yellow to brownish in colour. The dehiscent capsules have 2 lobes while the seeds have purple aril.

Oncosperma tigillarium

Commonly known as Nibong, this palm is native to South East Asia and can be found in lowland swampy areas. 

Nibong is a tall palm that grows densely in clusters of up to 50 trunks, reaching a height of about 25m. The trunks are slender, growing up to 15cm in diameter and are ringed with old leaf scars. They are covered with long black spines about 5 to 10cm long and have to be handled carefully.

It is planted for its attractive pinnate and leathery fronds that droop downwards. The leaflets are dark to bright green in colour.

The yellow inflorescence are multi-branched and emerge from below the fronds. They can grow up to 80cm long. The flowers are arranged in groups of 3, whereby there are 2 male flowers to 1 female flower. 

The purple to black fruits are globuse and 1cm in diameter, containing only 1 seed each.

Nypa fruticans

Otherwise known as Nipah palm, this palm is native to India and Sri Lanka. 

As a mangrove palm, the Nipah palm is able to anchor itself in soft, muddy soil conditions where there is regular flow of nutritious silt. While the palm does not seem to have a noticeable trunk, the base of the frond is filled with air to help it stay upright. The fronds grow out of a dense cluster.

Female flowers resemble a cone while male flowers resemble a spike and turn golden yellow and sticky when mature. 

The fruits of the Nipah palm grow in clusters to form a large and round ball, around the size of a soccer ball, which rises from the mud on a stick. When it matures and ripens, the ball breaks away and breaks up into smaller individual fruits and germinate as they float. 

The Nipah palm is known as a “plant of a thousand uses”. In the past, the leaves of this palm were used for roof-thatching. Its seeds, known as “Attap Chee”, are commonly added to a local dessert, ice-kachang. The Nipah Palm is an increasingly rare sight in Singapore as most of the mangrove areas are reclaimed to make way for urban development.

The young translucent-white chewy seeds ('attap chee') are edible, usually boiled in sugar syrup and added to local deserts. Inflorescence stalk are cut off before flowers open, and tapped for a sweet liquid that can be boiled to yield a brown sugar called 'gula melaka', which can be fermented into an alchoholic drink called 'toddy', or fermented for several more months to yield a vinegar. Flower sheaths can be made into an aromatic tea and young palm shoots are also edible. 

In agriculture, the sap also used to fatten up pigs in parts of Indonesia during dry season when fodder is scarce. Sugar-rich sap can also be distilled into industrial ethanol and biofuel. 

The dried fronds are used to make roof thatch (attap), or weaved into baskets, mats and hats. Young frondlets can be used to roll cigarettes. Ash collected from burnt frondlets can be used to make a type of salt. 

Saraca indica

More commonly known as Ashoka Tree or Sorrowless Tree, this tree is found throughout India and holds important cultural and religious value in India.

The Ashoka Tree is a small evergreen tree, growing up to a height of about 10m. The dark green leaves are paripinnate with around 6 to 12 oblong leaflets, growing closely to form a dense crown.

The fragrant flowers of the Ashoka Tree grow in tight clusters, its fragrance attracting butterflies, birds, and bees. They have an attractive bright orange colour, turning a beautiful vermillion colour just before wilting. The flowers have no petals but have brightly-coloured sepals and long, protruding stamens. The fruit is a leathery flat pod, containing around to to 8 oblong and compressed seeds.

The Ashoka Tree has great medicinal value whereby parts of tree used in traditional Ayruvedic medicine and homeopathic therapies. Juice obtained from boiling of bark said to be effective against female medical disorders like menstrual irregularities. Flowers are eaten against dysentery. 

It also has great cultural and religious importance is sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists. It is a symbol of love to Hindus and dedicated to Lord Rama. Buddhists believe Sakaymuni Buddha was born under this tree. It is commonly planted in temple compounds and flowers are used in religious offerings. Hindus believe that by drinking the water in which the flowers have lain, their children will be protected from grief. 

Agathis borneensis

Commonly known as Borneo Kauri or Malayan Kauri, this tree is native to Malaysia, Borneo, and the Sumatra. 

Borneo Kauri is a tall tree with a deep conical shape. Mature trees can grow up to as high as 55m tall. The colour of the bark varies from grey to light brown to black, while the texture  varies from dimpled to scaly to rough.

The thick leaves are arranged in opposite arrangement and light green in colour. The leaf sizes varies on every tree, with larger leaves found on young trees and smaller leaves on older tree.

It is a monoecious flowering plant, which means that pollen and ovules are found in separate flowers on the same plant. Flowers are pollinated by wind. This evergreen tree flowers all year round, producing oval or globular seed cones around 6 to 8cm in size that are also dispersed by wind.

Borneo Kauri is a commercially valuable tree due to the timber quality. The timber from Borneo Kauri is easy to work with and useful for making a variety of timber products such as guitars, pianos, cabinets, and boats. 

Cyrtostachys renda

Commonly known as Sealing Wax Palm or Lipstick Palm, Cyrtostachys renda is native to the Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. 

The medium-sized palm is slow-growing and grows in dense clusters up to 30 ft. The stems are about 5 to 15cm in diameter and has characteristic red colour that sets it apart from other palms. The leaf bases and leaf stalks are also the same bright red. 

The Lipstick Palm is a monoecious plant, which means that pollen and ovules are produced on the same plant but on different flowers. The flowers grow in clusters and are around 60cm long. It has black, oblong-shaped fruits that grow up to 1cm, turning slightly red at the base when mature. 

As a heat-loving evergreen plant, it requires high humidity and full to partial shade to grow. They are water-tolerant and can withstand flooding and water-logged conditions due to its native, swamp-growing nature. Lipstick Palm is favoured by many and planted for its attractive foliage.