CentralTulang Daing2001

Tulang Daing (HT 2001-22)

This Heritage Tree can be found in Singapore Botanic Gardens, behind Swan Lake.

A tall tree with a thick trunk stands in lush greenery by a still water body, under a blue sky with scattered clouds.

📷: Brendon Phuah

Heritage Tree Information

Reference ID
HT 2019-306

Scientific name: Adinobotrys atropurpureus
Family name: Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
Girth: 4.68 m @ 1.3 m height
Height: 35.6 m

Location
Singapore Botanic Gardens, behind Swan Lake (View Map) (opens in new tab)

The Tuang Daing or the Purple Milletia is a handsome evergreen tree that can grow up to 30 metres in height, with a dense, dome-like crown. Its dark, glossy leaves lend the tree a distinctively dark appearance. The flowers are reddish-purple in colour, and the pods are hard, brown, leathery, and flat, measuring approximately 10 by 6 cm, each containing one to two seeds. The tree is native to Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, West Malaysia, and Sumatra.

This Heritage Tree is more than 100 years of age. As reported in the second part of I.H. Burkill's History of SBG published in the Gardens Bulletin, 1918-21, Lawn F was planted with Leguminous trees in 1889. The earliest recorded Herbarium specimen taken from this Tree was dated in 1929. It was keenly observed recently that this specimen has pneumatophore roots in keeping with a preference for a swamp habitat, rather like the Alstonia pneumatophora Heritage Tree on the other side of Swan Lake. These roots are obvious adaptations to its location in a former swamp forest here at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

This species was previously known by its synonym, Callerya atropurpurea.

For more information on this species, please refer to NParks' Flora & Fauna Web profile. (opens in new tab)