UNusual angle for waterfall

Photo credit: Alex Sumadijaya

Curug 1000.

This angle was common, yes, i found it was the best angle for waterfall without any trash object ie. plastic!!

like 2 -faced sword, plastic important for human being, but act as dominant trash as well
so sad :((

kawah ratu "queen crater"

fumarole field, evidence of magmatic activities near earth crust.

unpleasant smell for human nose, but brings benefit for life. It will fertilize javan soil when eruption comes.

That's why so many peoples live on this island, near to the source of food from various paddy field & any other plantation.

grasses

Photo credit: Alex Sumadijaya

Grass(es), one of the largest flowering plants family in our planet.

At least 20% of landmass covered by various species of grass. On Indonesia, it comes with variable local language such as: rumput, suket (Sundanese), and Jukut (Javanese).

It comprises rice (our daily food), corn (of popcorn, vegetable, maizena flour), wheat, barley, oat, as well as bamboo, the giant & woody grass.

And now, from more than 17.000 island scatter on Indonesia, how many grasses species dwells our home country,

well, nobody knows...

largest canopy dweller on earth

Sumatran Orangs, known as Pongo pygmaeus abelii, or Pongo abelii, if you consider there are 2 species of Orang Utan (Dweller of the forest) on this planet.

Apart from disagrement among primatologist, this beautiful creature has arboreal (living on tree) habit. Looking for food, the male living solitary, looking for female around his territories.

Their role are crucial on forest as seed dispersal agent, on the other hand, it is one of the endangered animal species. (& i heard in Thailand, there was a orang utan boxing show)

kembang sungsang (upsided down flower)

Kembang sungsang, Gloriosa superba L. i always remember the name because its unique habit on one of my subject (plant morphology) on University.

If u notice, the flower has upside down appearance. with stalk at the upper part, corolla with stamen and ovaries on lower part. can you imagine how could u life your live upsided down? unimaginable...

natural skyscraper

Photo credit: Alex Sumadijaya

Cocos nucifera L., scraping blue sky on Borneo.

the sole species on genus Cocos, which means "ugly face".

It derived the names from 3 point on the fruit, resembling the monkey face.

Lowland & coastal natural distribution of this species is a great enigma on plant taxonomy.

Did it wild, or descendand of long-human domestication intervention?

any comment?

symbol of Malesian Flora

Photo credit: Alex Sumadijaya

Rafflesia hasseltii Suringar,

or Rafflesia merah putih (Red & White rafflesia).

1 of the nature wonder on Sumatra,

hidden deep under rain forest canopy, relying its life on merciness of parasitic Tetrastigma (which also parasitic plant).

The bloom will last for several days before rotten & visited by insects as the pollinators.

The Genus Rafflesia, described by Robert Brown, perfect symbol for FLORA MALESIANA

field excursion

Field excursion from Tukirin Partomihardjo, one of the BO's prominent ecologist.

In this picture, he explain about general ecology & galls on forest. 

The attendant were newcomers on Research Center for Biology, with Darjono (ornithologist from MZB)

Unfrotunately, i forget the name of waterfall, near Tjibodas Botanical Garden, Cipanas.

rengas flower

Not like any other beautiful flower,

this one was so boring.

but it was attached to one of dangerous tree in the forest.

Renghas as the vernacular name. (instead of it, 3 genera were included in Renghas: Gluta, Semecarpus & Buchanania)

& now guess, which one was the tree?

water drops at spikelet

Photo credit: Alex Sumadijaya

Isachne globosa (Thunb) Kuntze

first, it's described as Millium globosum by Thunberg (Carl Peter) on 1784..

than Kuntze (Otto), made it as new combination that belonging to Isachne on 1891

inhabited lowland, forming mat under canopy and could be found at 2400 m asl in Java.

water drops hanging at spikelet resulted from waterfall spray in curug 1000, part of Salak mountain complex.

web of trap & food

Photo credit: Alex Sumadijaya

spider with the web of food
easily traped unaware insect..

then, material and energy transfer will occur in the food chain

!Great cycle of Biogeochemistry!

i'm alive

Photo credit: Alex Sumadijaya

could you imagine...
this sedge grows at substrate on hole of dead tree
so amazing.. small-sized, light-weight seed made it possible to distributed all over the world part..

even on this remote place.. , it established its own way to produce another diaspora. indeed.. Cyperaceae is group of the world's worst weed..