Hazel Sterculia (HT 2016 282)

Reference ID
HT 2016-282

Scientific name: Sterculia foetida
Family name: Malvaceae
Girth: 2.92 m @ 1.3 m height
Height: 20.8 m

Location
Singapore Botanic Gardens,
near Plant Resource Centre
(beside shelter)

The Hazel Sterculia is a large deciduous tree that can reach heights of up to 40 m. Its natural distribution is from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh to Southeast Asia. It grows on coastal areas and in semi-open forests, and has a straight bole with a smooth grey to whitish outer bark and fibrous inner bark.

The tree is dioecious, meaning that male and female flowers are borne on separate trees. Its flowers lack petals, although they have a red, five-lobed calyx that resembles a set of petals. They give off an unpleasant smell, and the tree’s scientific name hints at this – the genus Sterculia was named after the Roman god of manure, Sterculius or Sterquilinus, and its species epithet, foetida, means ‘foul-smelling’. Its fruit is bright red and has one to five boat-like sections that house 10 to 12 black seeds in total.

For more information on this species, please refer to NParks' Flora & Fauna Web profile here.

Gallery

📷: Hazri Boey