sgwild:

Singapore Kopsia (Kopsia singapurensis)

This is a small evergreen tree endemic to Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. White latex is produced on cut surfaces. Its opposite, stalked leaves have rather leathery to leathery leaf blades, which are oval and gradually narrow to a blunt tip. Flowers grow on short stalks in loose clusters, and are white or pink with a red dot in the centre. Fruits are pairs of dull red flattened pods each with a single seed, rather triangular in outline and covered in fine hairs.

The Singapore Kopsia is grown as an ornamental tree or shrub in the Singapore Botanic Gardens and several public parks, but is considered Critically Endangered, as wild populations are now entirely restricted to the Nee Soon Swamp Forest of the Central Catchment Nature Reserve. The plants in the Singapore Botanic Gardens flower freely but never seems to fruit, except for a record from the 1880s. As it is a native plant, it is odd that it does not set fruit currently. It is a possibility that there is a specific pollinator which is no longer found in the Botanic Gardens. Another scenario could be that all plants in the Gardens’ grove are clonal, leading to sterility if the species is self-incompatible, or perhaps the environmental conditions are too different from those in swamp forest where it is naturally found.

Sources: NParks Flora&FaunaWeb, The Digital Nature Archive of Singapore, Gardenwise: Kopsia singapurensis – Always blooming!

• NParks Flora&FaunaWeb
• The Digital Nature Archive of Singapore
• Flora Singapura
• Singapore Red Data Book 2008
• Gardenwise: Kopsia singapurensis – Always blooming!
• IUCN Red List
• A Revision of Kopsia (Apocynaceae: Rauvolfioideae)
• 100 Common Vascular Plants of the Nee Soon Swamp Forest, Singapore
• Checklist of the Plant Species of Nee Soon Swamp Forest, Singapore: Bryophytes to Angiosperms

Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 by Ang Wee Foong; 5 by Cerlin Ng; 7 by Mike Bush; 8, 9, 10 by Marina Khaytarova;