You walk by us everyday on your way to your favourite bubble tea shop, to school and in the parks. You have probably smelled some of our seductive scents, luring you in to take a peek at us ladies. We are the show-stopping, eye-catching and attention-seeking flowers you pass by everyday. But it seems like we are often neglected. You may not know our names and backstories, so let us introduce ourselves properly!
Sincerely,
Flowers of Singapore
Now back to me! Here are 5 common flowers you have probably seen all over Singapore.
1. Coral vine (Antigonon leptopus)
Starting off with my personal favourite street flower, you can find these delicate pink inflorescences climbing all over sheltered walkways. They are also known as “Love Vine” due to their heart-shaped leaves. This romantic plant originated from Mexico, spreading their love all year round here in sunny Singapore. They smell as sweet as they look, attracting bees and butterflies to feast on their nectar.
Not only do they feed insects, but humans have also been using this completely edible flower for decades. In Singapore, they are used to add a soft touch of pink for food décor. In other countries, they are made into floral teas, deep fried or even tossed into an omelet. They are a true all-rounder, racking a long list of medicinal benefits which you can read more about here.
2. Pinwheel Flower (Tabernaemontana divaricata)
These cream-white flowers are so fun to look at! The end of each of their five petals are slightly twisted, each petal twisting to the left in an anti-clockwise direction. This shrub originating from China and South Asia is commonly found along our pathways, growing up to chest height.
3. Chinese Violet (Asystasia gangetica)
These small white flowers with purple accents are only up to 2.5cm big, but commonly dot our grass patches. I assure you, you have walked past hundreds of them in your lifetime! It is a herbaceous creeper originating from India, Africa and the Malay peninsula.
Do not belittle this hardy flower, for it is the larval host plant for 4 butterflies in Singapore! The Great Eggfly, Autumn Leaf, Blue Pansy and Jacintha Eggfly spend most of their caterpillar life on this unassuming plant. Take just a minute to observe this plant, you may just spot a butterfly feeding on its nectar.
4. Singapore Daisy (Sphagneticola trilobata)
While it has Singapore in its name, it is actually an exotic ornamental plant brought in from Central and South America. It is a resilient perennial plant, making it a suitable and favoured flower for beautifying urban spaces. However, it is regarded as among the world’s 100 worst invasive alien species, seen as an annoying weed in Australia and India.I have personally noticed this species growing in our forests, but not infesting the place to the point of being labelled locally invasive. (Or at least not yet…)
5. Blue Trumpet Vine (Thunbergia laurifolia)
Last but not least, we have this large violet-blue flower growing all over our sheltered pathways. Under the “Checklist Of The Total Vascular Plant Flora Of Singapore”, this species is listed as locally extinct. Quite possibly, we have lost our local gene pool of this species, but as for many other threatened native plants, NParks makes the effort to plant non-native gene pools of this species in our streetscape. What is often spotted feeding on these flowers are our carpenter bees (Xylocopa sp.).
Go smell the flowers!
Now that you have learnt how to identify some common roadside flowers in Singapore, do not disappoint these ladies and remember to greet them with their beautiful names. Enjoy this bouquet of wildflowers. 🙂