Nature's rubik cube
Monkey Puzzle Nut
One of the joys of kayaking is discovery.Paddling among tide lines and rivers, one sometimes see strange and wonderful things.
Back in 2006 when I was paddling up the Sungei Pontian I saw this huge cannonball fruit handing among the mangroves. With a swat of the paddle, I took down a fruit and intending to find out whether it was juicy and edible. "Turned out to be a fake coconut" after I opened it - how wrong and ignorant I was.
Moira, a local kayaker went further than just labeling the poor fruit as a wannabe coconut. After a kayaking trip with her friends around Tekong last year, she reported to us:
"While we were paddling around Tekong on Hari Raya Haji, we noticed that the mangrove trees on north side of Tekong were full of fruit small pomelo size! ...called Xylocarpus Granatum. Xylo means woody, and carpus means fruit. Northern stretch of Tekong was full of fruiting Xylocarpus granatum. When it is ripe.. perhaps dried even (I'm not sure), it comes apart like a jig-saw-puzzle or nature's own Rubik's cube.
Fruit with interlocking seeds! Not surprisingly it's also known as
- Monkey Puzzle Nut
- Patience Tree
- Mangrove Cannonball
- Monkey Puzzle Nut
- Patience Tree
- Mangrove Cannonball
Xylocarpus Granatum or Patience tree at Pak Bia?
Two weeks ago when I was at Pak Bia in Krabi, an island that I must have stepped onto countless of times, it was pointed out to me that one of the trees is a puzzle nut tree !The things we don't 'see' or learn in life if we are not curious, not questioning, and not thirsting for knowledge. All of a sudden I have got immense respect for that 'funny-looking' tree that blocks our way to the beach.
View from Pak Bia Island, Krabi
Comments
"...that 'funny-looking' tree that blocks our way to the beach" is a Granatum moluccensis. Different from the Granatum you picked up on Sg Pontian...
* Granatum, larger (bigger than baseball), brown skin
* Moluccensis, smaller (bigger than tennis ball), green skin
* Rumphii, smallest, haven't seen one yet but nice tree lives just west of Rasa Sentosa Resort - we've got to keep an eye on this fella *:)))
Von said:
"Nice piece, Huey! Just a small diversion: there is a South American pine called "monkey puzzle tree"...you might get an idea why from the picture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araucaria_araucana
So, a "monkey puzzle nut" could have another meaning. Sure enough, there is a recipe:
http://www.asadoargentina.com/monkey-puzzle-nut-recipe/
I just found your blog on the internet - nice work! I moved to Thailand quite recently, and I've done a couple of ocean paddles since I got here, but I'm starting to look around for river trips to do in an inflatable in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia etc. I'm writing to ask if you know where I can get decent quality maps of rivers in the region that I can use to plan my expeditions? If you could drop me an email at gmcclenaghan@hotmail.com I'd really appreciate it.
Cheers,
Greg