| Children
of the Wind Dispersal Dynamics of Enkleia malaccensis (Gaharu Family: Thymelaeaceae) |
The bracts are almost perfectly and aero-dynamically perpendicular to the twig, proportional in size and essentially opposite for perfect balance. Moreover, the margins are slightly recurved downward to give added strength and rigidity to the bracts. The single-seeded fruit is also aero-dynamically designed like the weighty plumb bob used in surveying works. In fact, that is how the fruit hangs on the liana - pendulous - from its embryonic conception in the ovary to maturity! The direct opposite in design can be seen in the V-shaped positioning of the enlarged sepals that keruing and meranti fruits (Dipterocarpaceae) display. Engineering students may well learn alot about the dynamics of flight by observing their hurried and wobbly spinning, and then ask themselves why and how Enkleia flies in perfection in contrast. Secondly - if I could conjecture correctly in my limited learning - tropical plants which employ bracts as wings are remotely encountered in our forests. More often than not, it is the sepals, tepals, or the membraneous extension of the fruit wall that perform as wings for dispersal. Lastly, Leonardo Da Vinci would have been thoroughly intrigued if he had seen how the whole intact flying unit (bracts, twig and fruit) of Enkleia dis-articulate miraculously at a point above where it once attached to the parent plant! Such is the wonder of Nature. And I am sure he would also agree with me that with a little bit of imagination and wondering, even you could fly and see the world anew! |
| a thousand uses | showy fruit | flying beans | long suffering grasses | sticky fruits |
| old friend of the wind | cauliflory | explosion | wispy light | huff & puff |