(Source: The Star Online, 29 May 2020)
Read:
Restored and Bloomed Again
by Lo Tern Chern(The Star Online, 29 May 2020)
BELIEVED to be the country’s oldest planted tree, the 149-year-old
baobab tree on the traffic island between Jalan Residensi and Jalan
Macalister is among the most unusual looking trees in Penang.
And
with it flowering now, the tree gives off an exotic appearance as its
white flowers with large crinkled petals and big cluster of stamens can
be seen dangling from its branches on long stems.
Arborist
Mohd Dzikry Mohd Hydzir, whose company helped revitalise the tree about
five years ago, said he was happy to know that it is doing well.
“It was malnourished from nutrients, so we gave it fertilisers and pruned off excess branches.
“The Penang Island City Council (MBPP) then continued the effort to upkeep it and its surrounding.
“The
tree now flowers twice a year, each time taking several days to bloom
and the flowers staying for a week before they wilt and fall,” he said.
Mohd Dzikry said three other younger baobab trees on the island,
which were planted from the seeds of the 149-year-old baobab tree, can
be found at the roundabout outside Penang International Airport in Bayan
Lepas, traffic garden in Jalan Nirvana and at the MBPP nursery in
Persiaran Kuari.
The tree, a native of Abyssinia, was planted in
1871 by Tristram Charles Sawyer Speedy (better known simply as Captain
Speedy), the English explorer who was hired by Perak warrior Tengku
Mentri Ngah Ibrahim to quell the restive situation in Larut.
Baobabs
are low spreading trees with flowers that are pendulous and white. The
tree, a native of the semi-arid part of sub-Saharan Africa and
Madagascar, is known to live up to 2,000 years old and its fat
bottle-shaped trunk becomes hollow as the tree ages.
Read also:
The Up-Side-Down Tree: Penang's Very Own Baobab
Little Garden At Traffic Island
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