Mahkota Dewa valued as a medicinal plant
This plant was given to me by a Chinese language doctor a few years in the past. Now it’s fruiting. What’s its identify and what can or not it’s used for?
Phua Cheng Tar
The shrub pictured is botanically often known as Phaleria macrocarpa. Its widespread names embody Mahkota Dewa and God’s Crown. It may develop as a shrub or a small tree, and thrives beneath filtered daylight outside. It additionally produces scented white flowers.
The brilliant pink fruit is poisonous and shouldn’t be consumed with out prior processing and supervision. The plant’s leaves, branches, fruit and seeds have makes use of in conventional medication and it’s typically grown for that objective.
Shrub is a basil plant with fragrant leaves
What is that this plant? I grew it from a packet of holy basil seeds and it doesn’t appear to be the image on the packaging. It additionally has a citrus scent.
Carol Teo
Your image exhibits a basil plant (Ocimum basilicum)that could be a distinct species from the holy basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum).
The candy basil collection has a number of notable cultivars. A few these are identified to have leaves with a citrus scent, resembling lemon and lime basils. Your plant could possibly be a kind of. Buy seeds from respected distributors for extra dependable merchandise in addition to to get dependable germination charges.
Axe snails will be eliminated with watermelon bait
My potted vegetation have been infested with tiny snails. The place did they arrive from and the way do I do away with them?
Tan Tock Beng
The snails proven are probably axe snails, which might not be interested in commercially accessible snail pellets. Use watermelon skins as bait, putting them on the soil in such a approach that the white portion of a pores and skin faces downwards. You may then take away the snails which might be interested in the skins.
To handle the problem, it is important to take away or filter snails’ potential hiding spots. In a backyard, these are sometimes moist and shady areas resembling leaf particles and flower pots.
Plant is the crown flower
The place can I discover the Erukkan leaf plant in Singapore? It has medicinal worth and is taken into account a pure treatment for heel ache in Sri Lanka. Additionally, the place can I purchase spice vegetation from the Nationwide Parks Board?
Shirley Sivakumaran
The plant you have an interest in is the Crown Flower and its botanical identify is Calotropis gigantea. It grows as a lanky shrub with leaves that feed the caterpillars of Plain Tiger and Frequent Crow butterflies. As such, this plant is more likely to be extra wanted by ecological gardeners who’re planting a butterfly backyard. Be aware that broken components of the plant produce a poisonous milky sap.
The Crown Flower plant is accessible on the market in some massive business nurseries. NParks sells a collection of completely different vegetation each quarter at Rake Spade in HortPark.
Preserve pandan plant evenly moist, keep away from letting it dry out
Why are the information of my pandan plant’s leaves – even the younger ones – turning brown?
Jennifer Teo
The Pandan Plant (Pandanus amaryllifolius) grows finest in well-drained soil that’s saved moist always. Potted specimens typically dry out if not recurrently watered and this will trigger vegetation to wilt and components of the leaves to dry.
From the image, your plant appears to have been infested with spider mites, resulting in the leaves’ speckled look. You should use a diluted cleaning soap resolution to spray and wash the pests off your plant recurrently to maintain the infestation in examine. Summer time oil, an environmentally pleasant backyard pesticide, might also be used.
- Solutions by Dr Wilson Wong, an NParks-certified practising horticulturist, parks supervisor and ISA-certified arborist. He’s the founding father of Inexperienced Tradition Singapore and an adjunct assistant professor (Meals Science & Expertise) on the Nationwide College of Singapore.
- Have a gardening question? E-mail it with clear, high-resolution footage of at the very least 1MB, if any, and your full identify to stlife@sph.com.sg. We reserve the precise to edit and reject questions.