Epiphyllum oxypetalum (Cataceae)

Nature: Flowering Shrub or Treelet

Commonly known as: Keng Hwa, Tan Hua

Origin: Americas

Description: A plant with flat stems, which are rather straggling, the spineless cactus blossoms infrequently. Flower buds develop at the notches of the stems, but remain dormant unless an exceptional drop in temperatures triggers them to flower about 25 days later. The flowers are short-lived, opened by night and withered by the next dawn.

Ficus microcarpa (F. retusa; Moraceae)

Nature: Wayside Tree

Commonly known as: Malayan Banyan

Origin: Unknown

Description: An extraordinarily versatile tree, its natural habitats are river banks and swampy flood plains and exposed rocky coasts. Common in Singapore. Also common in old buildings. This tree looks like the Benjamin Fig, F. benjamina.

Heliconia hybrid (Musaceae)

Nature: Ornamental Herbaceous Perennial

Commonly known as: Unknown

Origin: Unknown

Description: Propagated by pieces of rhizome. Growing from rhizomes, they have erect shots, each composed of a stem and leaves and are often terminated by an inflorescence of frequently brilliant colour, which comes from the bracts rather that the actual flower.

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (Malvaceae)

Nature: Flowering Treelet

Commonly known as: Red Hibiscus, Shoe Flower; Cha-ba (Thai); Bunga Raya, Kembang sepatu, Bebaru (Malay, Indonesian)

Origin: South China

Description: The plant is the National Flower of Malaysia. Though its flowers last only a day, they bloom so profusely that there are nearly always several that are open at any one time.

Hymemocallis littoralis (Amaryllidaceae)

Nature: Ornamental Herbaceous Perennial

Commonly known as: Spider Lilies

Origin: Tropical America

Description: A poisonous plant, its flowers have filmy and frilly funnel-shaped centres borne on tall, flattened, solid stems. It is often mistaken to be the Crinum Asiaticum, which is a native to SE Asia, as their flowers appear similar.

The above plants are arranged according to their scientific botanical names in alphabetical order.

"Statistics have shown that there are a lot of monitors set to 640 X 480 and most pages are best viewed using Internet Explorer 4.0 or Netscape Communicator. Set yours to 640 X 480 and change your browser to see how well the pictures in here turns out to be... "