Singapore has a wide variety of flora. Plants are mainly used to beautify the landscape of Singapore. The national flower is a hybrid orchid, Vanda Miss Joaquim. [1]
As in any tropical rainforest Singapore is home to a number of very large trees from the families Apocynaceae , Dipterocarpaceae , Fabaceae , Malvaceae and others. A number of these thrive reasonably, but for the large Shorea gratissima there is a problem - its seeds will not germinate, and the reason for this is not known. [2]
There is also a fair number of palm species. In the forest understorey is found a number of common houseplants such as Epipremnum aureum , Monstera and Dieffenbachia .
On the many large trees are found many epiphytes, including several types of ferns like Asplenium , and many orchids such as Dendrobium crumenatum .
The national flower of Singapore is Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim, also known as Vanda Miss Joaquim or the Singapore orchid. [8] For its resilience and year-round blooming quality, it was chosen on 15 April 1981 to represent Singapore's uniqueness and hybrid culture. [9]
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