Spring comes early to Penang

Spring comes early to Penang

The start of an early ‘spring’ is in the air as plants have started to bloom in the Penang Botanic Gardens.

The flowering season, that usually occurs in February to March, has appeared to have gotten a head start this year with buds of some trees peeking out in early January.

A visit to the park showed the 71-year-old Pride of India at the park’s entrance was already covered in light purple flowers while joggers were also seen to have taken a liking to several blooming Yellow Saraca trees on the path.

“Malaysia’s weather does not have seasons, but in Penang, we seem to have a clear period when flowers start blooming.

“We noticed that the flowering trees that come from a temperate climate usually start blooming in February to March, but things have started early this year,” said Penang Botanic Gardens chief controller Datuk Tengku Idaura Tengku Ibrahim.

She said the flowering season for these plants were usually in the dry months at the beginning of the year which followed the monsoon rains in November and December.

“Normally, we would expect to see the flowers coming out in February. However, our Lagerstroemia speciosa (Pride of India) tree at the park’s entrance is already covered with flowers.

“The yellow flowers of the Saraca cauliflora (commonly known as Yellow Saraca or Gapis in Malay) are also in bloom after they started budding at the beginning of the month,” she said, adding that other flowering species were expected to start blooming over the next two months.

Prof Dr Mashhor Mansor from Universiti Sains Malaysia’s School of Biological Sciences said the dry weather probably triggered the bloom at the gardens.

“The dry months in the northern parts of Peninsular Malaysia are late January, February and early March.

“Generally, this dry season in tropical rainforests can result in plants undergoing physiological stress and therefore start to flower and bloom,” he said.

-News courtesy of The Star-