Flowers of Bali

Balinese name: Tunjung
Indonesian name: Tunjung, Teratai
Latin name: Nelumbium nelumbo
Family: Nymphaeaceae

The Lotus is an important plant in Buddhist and Hindu symbolism. Most parts of the Lotus plant are either edible or used for medicine. In Bali, Lotus and Water Lilies are often seen growing together in hotel ponds. The Balinese use the same name to refer to both, although the two are quite different plants.

Description
This aquatic plant produces long stalks, about 1 meter high, which bear its leaves and flowers. The stalks grow from a rhizome which lies deeply buried in the mud in pools and lakes.

Flowers
Produced at the end of solitary stalks and have between 16 and 19 petals. The newly-opened flower is magenta, but when opened for a time, the tips turn purple, shading to a pale lavender - almost white - at the base. Petals are concave and tear-drop shaped, about 11 cm long and 5 cm wide, pointed at the tip. The pistil is an inverted cone, about 3 cm in diameter and 3.5 cm high, its stigma flat, with circle of dots around the edge. It looks much like a salt shaker. Dozens of stamens radiate, bristle-like, from the base of the pistil. Each is about 3 cm long, white at the bottom and yellow toward the tip. The 20-25 cm blossoms stay open only a short time. Once the petals drop, the large conical ovary is left at the end of the long stalk.

Leaves
Large, round, and borne in the air.

Seeds
Contained in the mature seed pod which is the hardened and enlarged conical ovary. The seed pod is brown, 6 cm high and 7 cm in diameter.

Balinese name: Tengguli
Indonesian name: Tengguli
Latin name: Cassia fistula
Family: Leguminosae

The Balinese, who call the Indian Laburnum is Tengguli, do not make us of the pulp of the tree's pods although it is used in many parts of the world as a laxative. The wood is occasionally used for carvings but craftsmen say it is very hard and dulls their tools quickly. The flowers are used in offerings and the leaves are used to artificially ripen fruit. This procedure involves sealing fruit along with Tengguli leaves in a large clay pot. A smoldering coconut-shell fire is kept burning on top of this pot for a day or two until the moist heat inside matures the fruit.

Description
A tall tree distinguished by its beautiful shower of golden flowers.

Flowers
In a 35 cm truss with mature blooms near the base and spherical buds at the tip. Each flower is about 4,5 cm in diameter with five yellow petals. A green pistil curls prominently from the bloom. There are 10 yellow stamens and ten anthers.

Leaves
Medium to dark green leaflets in pairs along the stems; each is 12 by 7 cm and comes to a point.

Seeds
In long, cylindrical pods, up to 60 cm long, green when immature but dry and brown when ripe. The flat seeds are embedded an a dark brown pulp with a faintly sweet taste.

Flowering
The beginning of the rainy season, in October or November.

Balinese name: Soka
Indonesian name: Soka, Kembang Asoka, Asoka, Angsoka
Latin name: Ixora javanica
Family: Rubiaceae

A Javanese Ixora is a common garden plant in Bali, and its flowers are often used in offerings. There are many in hotel gardens because they bloom all year. The Indian origin of the plant is indicated by its Indonesian and Balinese names, which make reference to Asoka, the first king of India to embrace Buddhism.

Description
A medium to tall shrub that bears large, almost hemispherical clusters of flowers at the ends of its branches.

Flowers
Each clusters may have has many s 60 flowers. These are usually a uniform red or orange-red although there is a so-called white variety which is actually a very pale yellow. The individual flower is small and has four spear-shaped petals, each about 1.4 cm long. These petals lie flat and are attached to a tube about 3 cm long and only 1 mm across. The buds look like match-sticks.

Leaves
Oval, about 9 by 4 cm; older leaves may be quite a bit larger. They are medium to light green and somewhat glossy.

Balinese name: Pucuk
Indonesian name: Kembang Sepatu
Latin name: Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L.
Family: Malvaceae

The Indonesian name for the Hibiscus means "shoe flower". This apparently comes from the Potuguese, who used the juice of the petals to blacken shoes. There are double and single varieties. The Hibiscus is to be found everywhere in Bali - in hotel gardens, along country roads, in gardens, and behind men's ears. It is commonly found in offerings and decorating tables, religious objects, and stone carvings. The roots, leaves, and flowers are sometimes used as medicine.

Description
This plant has been so highly bred and selected that there are numerous varieties and it is difficult to give a general description to fit them all. Many are single flowers but there are double varieties which look like roses.

Flowers
Red, white, or mixed; also, less commonly, yellow. Most varieties are characterized by a large five-petaled flower. The petals are typically pear-shaped, about 8 by 5 cm, prominently veined and somewhat wrinkled. The typical flower is about 13 cm across when fully opened. Petals overlap slightly at the base where they are frequently stained a contrasting color. Two concentric rings of triangular sepals are found beneath the petals. The pistil protrudes conspicuously from the flower, and ends in a five-branched stigma. The stamens grow as small appendages at the end of the pistil. The flower has no odor.

Flowering
Year-round

Balinese name: Jempiring
Indonesian name: Kaca Piring
Latin name: Gardenia florida
Family: Rubiaceae

Gardenias are found in many gardens but are not popular in hotels because they do not bloom for long. When available, they are used in offerings. The Gardenia is not to be confused with the flower called tulud nyuh by the Balinese. The latter is also white and grows on a small shrub very much like a Gardenia.

Even the leaves are similar in shape. However, the tulud nyuh flower is flat and has a small yellow center. It has an odor but is not quite as fragrant as the Gardenia. Theoretically, tulud nyuh are not supposed to be used in offerings. People who have these plants, however, generally do so anyway. The Balinese name, which is probably a corruption of the Indonesia - kaca piring - means "glass plate".

Description
This plant can grown up to 2 meters, but is usually smaller in Bali

Flowers
Are about 7 cm in diameter and have 15 to 20 white, rounded petals, up to 4 cm long and 23 cm wide. The reproductive parts are not visible until the flower ages and opens wide. In the center are 5 triangular, tan stamens is a 1.5 cm long, waxy pistil with a cleft stigma. The flowers have a pleasant fragrance. The Gardenia is a very fragile blossom, turning brown soon after being picked.

Leaves
Glossy ovals, 8 by 3 cm, dark green. They are stemless and are paired.

Benefits
This flower is a cut flower commodity, used in bouquets and corsages. The leaves can be used as a cure thrush and its roots as a cure toothache.

Fruit contains crocin (a type karotenoida), which is bright yellow as well as on saffron. Dried fruit is a coloring agent. In Japan, gardenia dye used for dyeing of textile dyes and traditional cake (wagashi) and pickled radish (Takuan).

Balinese name: Flamboyan, Merak
Indonesian name: Flamboyan, Merak
Latin name: Delonix regia
Family: Leguminosae

Flamboyant dubbed the "queen of flame" with Rose but in reality Flamboyant has many advantages compared to Rose. One of the advantages is that the age Flamboyant longer than roses. When in bloom, roses only last 2 days while Flamboyant can last up to 6 full months. At first glance it looks Flamboyant leaves resemble the leaves of the roses. There were sharp spikes seen on the branches. The function of thorns is to protect the interest of animal attack or surrounding plants. Flamboyant thorns are very sharp when people are not careful it will risk injury. While Flamboyant also leaves almost resemble leaves, but leaf size Rose appears to be more rounded than the rose leaves.

The Flamboyant is a native of Madagaskar but was distributed all over the tropics during the 19th century. The tree's wide spreading branches make it deal for shade. They are planted along many of the main roads and, where they do well, the branches form an almost closed arch.

Description
A medium tree with spreading branches and a rounded crown.

Flowers
Red, 7-8 cm in diameter, with five petals. Four petals are identical and spaced symmetrically. Each consists of a long, thin strip ending in a wavy-edged oval and is a uniform red. A fifth petal is streaked with white near the narrow strip. Below the petals are five sepals, about 2.2 cm long, red on top and green at the bottom. Ten stamens, about 4 cm long and red, protrude from the flower and terminate in mushroom-shaped, blackis anthers. The pistil is pink, about 5 cm long, and ends in a green stigma.

Leaves
Compound, consisting of small, oval leaflets occurring in pairs along the stems. They are pale green when young, darken as they mature, and eventually turn brightly yellow.

Seeds
Contained in long, dark-brown pods.

Flowering
Late in the dry season, beginning about the middle of September. Flowers are most profuse in November.

Balinese name: Biu
Indonesian name: Pisang
Latin name: Musa Sp.
Family: Musaceae

There are dozens of varieties of Bananas in Bali, most if which are far more flavorful than the rather bland plantation Banana we are accustomed to in the West. The Banana plant is not a tree, but rather, a giant herb. It produces fruit just once, then dies, leaving suckers at its base to start the next generation.

Description
The deep red to maroon blooms appear about seven to nine months after planting. The flower stalk emerges from the crown of the plant, carrying the last leaves with it.

Flowers
A large bud or “navel” develops at the tip of the stalk. As this pusuh biu (Banana navel) develops, one of the outer bracts rises to reveal a double row of 12 to 29 female flowers with short-lasting, yellowish-white petals. This bract eventually drops. As the inflorescence grows, another bract folds upwards, revealing another “hand” of female flowers. This continuous until there are 8 to 13 “hands”. These are followed by several “hands” of neuter flowers, and then a long sequence of pollen-producing male flowers.

Leaves
Young leaves are pale green and tightly rolled in cylindrical “buds” that unfurl int long, broad, dark green leaves.

Seeds
The female flower of most Banana will produce fruit without pollination. Normally, one finds merely brown specks inside the fruits, but the hard back seeds of the variety biu batu present a hazard to the unwary eater.

Flowering
Year-round

Benefits
Bananas have a very good nutrient content, such as energy supply is quite high compared with other fruits. Bananas are rich in minerals such as potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, and calcium. Bananas also contain vitamins, namely C, B complex, B6, and serotonin is active as a neurotransmitter in the smooth functioning of the brain.

Balinese name: Ikut Lutung
Indonesian name: Ekor Kera
Latin name: Acalypha hispida
Family name: Euphorbiaceae

Chenille Plant, which originated in West Indies, has become common in Bali. It can be seen in house yards and gardens, where it grown as an ornamental.

Description:
This medium shrub produces numerous tassels that droop down like tails from the plant.

Flowers:
Each tassel consists of many small red flowers distributed closely along a stem up to 50 cm long and 1 cm in diameter. The "tails" look like bright red pipe cleaners because of the unbelievably large number of thin red hairs that are attached to the flowers.

The individual flower is a fuzzy white sphere only about 2 mm in diameter with four hairy sepals underneath. Three branches of red filaments project from the top of this white ball. The total length of ball and filament is about 5 mm. There are about 800 of these time tiny balls on each flowering raceme. Once the flowers mature and go to seed, the "monkey tails" look like a little shaggy and worn.

Leaves:
Serrated, spear-shaped and red-veined, occurring alternately on 6 cm stems. The largest are 20 cm long and 16 cm wide.

Balinese name: Sandat
Indonesian name: Kenanga
Latin name: Canaga odorata Baill.
Family: Annonaceae

The very fragrant flowers of the Sandat -no common English name exists- are favored by the Balinese for offerings; they are picked very early in the morning and can be found in every market in Bali. The Sandat is also used to perfume hair and clothing. An essential oil is extracted from the flower to scent soaps, cosmetics and perfume. This oil is sometimes given a yellow color by frying the flowers in turmeric. The leaves are used as a medicine for malaria and the bark of the tree provides material for twine.

Description
The inconspicuous, green flowers are often difficult to see because they occur high in this tall tree.

Flowers
Long, narrow, and limp, light green in color, changing to a pale lemon yellow when fully open. There are six somewhat wrinkled petals, each about 5 to 8 cm long and 1 to 1.5 cm wide at the widest point. The center of the flower is complex, consisting of tiny stamens and a compound stigma.

Leaves
Medium green, almost perfectly spear shaped, occurring alternately. They range in size from 20 by 9 cm to 30 by 13 cm. Veining makes the surface seem wrinkled.

Seeds
About a dozen 2 by 1.5 cm fruits on a spike.

Flowering
Year-round

Balinese name: Ratna
Indonesian name: Bunga kancing
Latin name: Gomphrena globosa L.
Family: Amaranthaceae

The plant is native to the drier parts of America. In Bali, Globe Amaranth is widely used for yard and street decoration and is commonly used in offerings and ti decorate holy flags for religious ceremonies. The plant bloom for about three months, a characteristic that has inspired a sometimes heard Indonesian name, bunga tiga bulan ”three month flower.”

Description
A small shrubby annual herb with flowers in small magenta spheres that look like clover blossoms and are 1 to 3 cm across.

Flowers
Each spherical flower group consists of dozens of tiny, individual flowers arranged in a tight spiral. The flowers them selves are each enclosed by two papery, magenta petals, about 1 cm long.

These have white edges near the base, so that the lower part of the flower head looks whiter than the top. Within the petals is a small mass of white, fuzzy fibers ringed by 5 ribbon like stamens. In the center of the mature flower is a white 7 mm pistil topped by a compound yellow stigma.

Leaves
Fuzzy, medium green, about 6 cm long.

Seeds
Small, black and produced in abudance.

Balinese name: Alamanda
Indonesian name: Alamanda
Latin name: Allamanda cathartica L.
Family: Apocynaceae

The Allamanda is a popular hotel plant and is frequently used in hedges. Although the flowers are beautiful, they are not often used in offerings. The entire plant is poisonous, but the vapor from its leaves is said to have cathartic value, good for curing coughs. It is a native of tropical America and its scientific name is derived from the Brazilian naturalist, Allamanda, who popularized it in the early 1800s. He indicated that an infusion made from its leaves served as a good laxative. The plant can be found all over Bali.

Description

A woody vine often winding through hedges or up trees. Depending on its support, it can reach 3 to 6 meters. Plants of the genus are evergreen trees shrubs, or vines. They contain a white latex. The leaves are opposite or arranged in whorls of up to 5. The blades are generally oval and smooth-edged, and some are leathery or lightly hairy. The inflorescence is a compound cyme. The flower has five lobed sepals and a bell- or funnel-shaped corolla of five petals, yellow in most species. The fruit is a schizocarp containing two to four seeds.

Flowers

Bright yellow, bearing five rounded petals fused into a short funnel at their base. The entire flower is about 8 to 10 cm across. At the junction of  the petals and the funnel there is often a large white spot and the petals are sometimes striped. Deep within the funnel is a fuzzy star bearing two hairy stamens and a green stigma on a long, white style. The flower has no noticeable fragrance.

Leaves

Bright green and glossy on top, pale green underneath, usually pointed ovals up to 15 by 5 cm. They grow in clusters of four with very short stems.

Plant care

• Add top soil (or organic peat moss) and cow manure to the hole when you plant.
• Trim as needed to shape and cut back in spring (late March or early April) for size.
• Water on a regular basis, but don't keep this plant overly wet.Let it dry out a bit between waterings.
• Fertilize 3 times a year - in spring summer and autumn - with a quality granular fertilizer.

Balinese name: Karet-karetan
Indonesian name: Sepatu diat
Latin name: Spathodea campanulata
Family name: Bignoniaceae

African tulip tree is a fast growing evergreen tree that can grow up to 24 m in height. It has broadly oval-shaped leaves that are strongly veined, bronze when young and a deep, glossy green when mature. African tulip trees produce large flat clusters of velvety, bronze-green buds and large orange-red flowers with yellow frilly edges. Reddish-brown seed capsules are produced and can be up to 20 cm in length.

This native of tropical West Africa has been widely distributed along the roads of Bali by the Department of Forestry. It serves as a useful tall screen but requires good soil conditions for quick growth.

Description
A free-flowering medium to tall tree with dense foliage and bearing orange-red flowers arranged in spikes at the ends of branches. The flower bud is ampule-shaped and contains water. These buds are often used by children who play with its ability to squirt the water. The sap sometimes stains yellow on fingers and clothes. The open flowers are cup-shaped and hold rain and dew, making them attractive to many species of birds.

Flowers
Faintly fragrant, the flowers are reminiscent of tulips, forming large, orange-red cups about 7 cm long and 8 cm in diameter. The five petals are almost fused together. Inside the cup are four long stamens with dark-brown, T-shaped anthers and one long, thin, yellow pistil. The flower spike itself terminates in a cluster of brown buds, their tips extending outward and down to form a spherical mass that reminds one of a bear’s claw. These buds contain a clear liquid that spurts out when the bud is broken. This is what gives the flower its Balinese name, which refers to the spurting of water.

Leaves
Almost perfectly elliptical, about 5 by 10 cm, with a somewhat pointed end and prominent veins, carried on a thick stem.

Flowering
August to October

The main attraction of this ornamental tree is its large, tulip - shaped, orange - red flowers, sometimes 07 cm. in diameter, which appear several times a year in clusters at the ends of its higher branches. Each flower lasts for several days before it falls and is replaced by another; a cluster may thus continue to bloom for a month or more. The flowers are followed by long, boat - shaped pods which eventually split open to release masses of winged seeds. A rare variety has pure yellow flowers, but seeds rarely breed true and the only certain method of propagating these is by root cuttings.

Balinese name: jepun jepang
Indonesian name: not known
Latin name: Adenium coetenium
Family name: Apocynaceae

This Balinese Adenium is one of the different trees the Balinese call jepun. The two others are jepun bali and jepun jawa. Although the Adenium belongs to the same botanical family as the true frangipani, Plumeria, it is of an entirely different genus. In common with many members of the family Apocynaceae, the Adenium (and the frangipani) exude a poisonous white latex when the branches are broken or damaged.

Description

The general shape of this Balinese Adenium small tree is somewhat reminiscent of the frangipani, but unlike the Plumeria, the red or deep pink flowers has no odor. One must understand, however, that all Adeniums grown from seed are “hybrids” in that the plant rarely self pollinates and that each seedling is distinct in its own right. I have known one grower to claim he had a collection of a thousand hybrids – he counted each plant in his collection as a separate hybrid and considered minute differences between the leaves, flowers and growth habits as significant. Luckily he did not proceed to name the plants!

Flowers

Trumpet-shaped and generally of some shade of crimson, with edges somewhat darker than the center in some plants. One variety has pale pink flowers with streaks of white. The five petals are attached to a cup about 2.5 cm long and flare from 1 to 2 cm in diameter. The petals, which form an overlapping ring at the wide end, are almost diamond-shaped. The five stamens are fuzzy, long filaments that extend to the lip of the cup.

Leaves

Club-shaped, about 12 by 4 cm, flaring out from a narrow base. The midrib is prominent. Leaves occur in bunches at the ends of rather fat branches.

Cultivation and uses

Adenium obesum is grown as a houseplant in temperate regions. Numerous hybrids have been developed. Adeniums are appreciated for their colorful flowers, but also for their unusual, thick caudices. They can be grown for many years in a pot and are commonly used for bonsai.

Because seed-grown plants are not genetically identical to the mother plant, desirable varieties are commonly propagated by grafting. Genetically identical plants can also be propagated by cutting. However, cutting-grown plants do not tend to develop a desirable thick caudex as quickly as seed-grown plants.

The sap of Adenium boehmianum, A. multiflorum, and A. obesum contains toxic cardiac glycosides and is used as arrow poison throughout Africa for hunting large game.

Balinese name: Akasia
Indonesian name: Pilang
Latin name: Acacia auriculiformis
Family name: Leguminosae

The Balinese Acacia is not native to the island but was introduced by the Indonesia Department of Forestry. It has adapted perfectly to its new environment. The By-Pass Highway is lined with vigorous specimens from Tohpati to Nusa Dua. It is a good shade tree and, like all legumes, helps to enrich the soil.

Acacia flowers are typically small, yellow and fragrant with many stamens, giving the flower a fuzzy appearance. The Acacia flower heads are actually lots of little flowers bundled together. Acacia Flowers can vary in color from cream, pale yellow through to gold. One species, Acacia purpureapetala, has purple flowers whilst a form of Acacia leprosa has red flowers. Individual Acacia Flowers are arranged in inflorescences that may be either globular heads or cylindrical spikes. Each Acacia inflorescence may comprise from as few as 3 individual flowers (e.g. Acacia lunata) to as many as 130 or more (e.g. Acacia anceps).

Description

Distinctive yellow pendant clusters cover medium sized tree.

Flowers

From a distance these look like long yellow pipe cleaners or pieces of chenille. Each is actually a thin stem along which grow large numbers of tiny yellow flowers.

The flower clusters are attached to twigs at leaf junctions and are about 1-2 cm apart. Each cluster is about 10 cm long and 8-9 cm in diameter. The individual flower is a few millimeters in size and has five petals curling from the flower cup. A fluff of yellow stamens protrudes from this cup.

Leaves

Crescent-shaped, up to 18 by 3 cm. They are carried on short stems.

Seeds

Contained in a unusually convoluted seed pod. As many as eight or 10 of these pods may be twisted around each other on the same stem.

Flowering

In the middle of the dry season.

Acacias Plant Care

• Acacias have no special nutrient needs and will grow well in most desert soils.
• The garden area could be mulched with pine bark or other available material to help prevent drying out.
• But the mulch needs to be kept away from the plant stem to avoid the possible development of stem rot.
• Pruning is advisable each year to maintain a bushy healthy shrub.
• This is best undertaken after flowering.
• Acacia plants should not be left in pots too long before planting in the garden as they quickly develop long root systems.

No attempt has been made to make this web encyclopedic. There are description and photographs of hundreds of flowers of Bali. The purpose of this web is to help the foreign visitor identify the flowers he is most likely to see during his stay in Bali, Indonesia.

We have traveled the byways of Bali for many years and the inclusion or omission of a particular flower for this web is based only upon whether we think the average visitor is likely to see it. We have included a number of flowering trees of foreign origin because one sees them in bloom all along the major highways.

We have omitted a number of Bali flowers that are important and useful to the Balinese simply because they are either rare or inconspicuous, or because they are abundant only in areas not likely to be visited by the average tourist.

We have also omitted most flowers which are already familiar to visitor because of their abundance in all parts of the world. There are lilies, begonias, zinnias, sunflowers, asters, roses, marigolds, and so on here, but these same flowers are common elsewhere, and thus, space is denied them in favor of flowers the visitor is not likely to have encountered previously.

We would have liked to include the Orchids. However, it is folly to speak about orchids as if they constitute a homogenous group. More than 3,000 species have been described, and it would have been impossible to speak about them in any but the most general terms.

Many visitors do not realize that tropical Bali has seasons. Bali is between eight and nine degrees south of the equator. During the months from approximately November through March, warm northwesterly winds sweep over the South China Sea and bring large amounts of rainfall to Bali.

Remember that plants are adapted to particular environments. You will only see some in the higher, cooler elevations. Others are only common to the sandy soils of the seashore. To see the majority of the flowers described here, you will have to visit places all throughout Bali.

Most hotels have lovely gardens that are full of Bali flowers. However, the emphasis in these gardens is on flowers that are long-lasting and relatively easy to care for. You are not likely to find large numbers of the flowers described in this web growing in and around tourist centers.

Whatever you needs and your point of view, we hope the articles we have provided here are interesting to you as they were to us when we first discovered them for ourselves.