Waiting .... waiting ...... waiting... ...When will the Bunga Kesidang bloom?

I love collecting plants with fragrant flowers.  So when the nursery owner introduced  the  Bunga Kesidang  or Kerak Nasi plant to us,  we were delighted to buy it. Of course only after  I did some checking around in the internet first.  I liked what  I read in this article .... http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/Scentedgardens/Article/  and other sites as well.   Well it is  coming  to almost half a year now since we bought the plant, but no blooms so far !

Apparently the Bunga Kesidang is the state flower for Malacca. (Botanical name stated as  Canangrium Scortechinii  in the Malacca State Portal).  However other gardening sites referred to this plant as  the Vallaris glabra or Bread Flower.  After we bought the plant, we looked out for  this plant in the neighborhood whenever we take our evening walks.   The leaves are large, light green and rather prominent . Since it is a climber, it is not difficult to  recognize this plant even from a far.  Soon  enough,  we were delighted to spot this  plant  which was already blooming not far from our house.  

Of course we pause to smell the flowers ! The fragrance from the small white flowers of the Kesidang  is very unusual indeed.  Nothing like the jasmines (Aug, 23, 2010), ylang ylang (June 25, 2010) or  michelia champaca (June 26, 2010).  True,  it does smell a bit like fragrant cooked rice ('kerak nasi'  means rice crusts in malay language) - but the scent is light and teasing, hard to pin point and describe.... Some claim the fragrance is similiar to  pandan smell, and yes I do find  it  only faintly so.   I like the scent and even though the flowers are not spectacular they are pleasing enough.   For a long time after, I keep checking for blooms on my Kesidang plant, but  plants like to adjust to their new environment first. One just can't hurry them when they are not ready.  When they are finally ready to settled in,  they  will start growing new shoots.  Recently I noticed the plant  seems to be shooting new growth, and at the tips perhaps flower buds?  I hope.  So now I am pretty excited and keeping my fingers crossed, but the new growth might  just turn out to be leaf shoots .......!

Kesidang plant

This is my Kesidang  plant ....  I have tied it to the fence, hoping it will climb nicely along it.    

 







The nursery owner says I can prune it to make it grow as a shrub, but I am not sure if that will work?  Perhaps I might need to give it some support....see how it goes....

Kesidang growing at its own pace.....!

Since I have no Kesidang blooms to put up, I will put up photos of  some other blooms looking good today ...........!  

Crepe Ginger... its grace and beauty is spell binding

Angel wing jasmine - so pure and white.... angels  in disguise ?

 

Waterlilies always make me feel the world of nature is just too beautiful to describe in words .......... ! 



Update : 4th May 2011 - Finally the Bunga Kesidang Blooms ( read post 4/5/2011)