Sterculia Parviflora - Kelumpang Burong

The Picture... of a strange red thing

Came across this strange looking thing in a park in an estate.


The Plant & Personal-take

The plant is native to Singapore (from here to Northeast India). It was in the 2006 IUCN Red List for endangered species, so I guess it's good that they're planting it around. (Picture above shows a young plant, I think.)

Sterculia is taken from "Sterculius" (the god of manure) of Roman mythology. This is referring to the unpleasant aroma of the flowers of this genus.

This tree is a member of the mallow family (malvaceae) along with the hibiscus and durian. Staring at the red thing, which is actually a fruit (and not a flower as I first thought), I feel it does bear a strange resemblance to the hibiscus flower (in colour and contours?) and the durian fruit (as it too, splits up with weird seeds inside).