Mindanao gums, Eucalyptus deglupta, are native to Papua New Guinea.
I caught this amazing Mindanao gum this morning at the nearby Katong Park. It seemed to be burning in the warm morning light, its bark peeling like it wanted to throw off its clothes in the heat. Quite psychedelic.
As rock'n'roll as it might look, it is actually a Heritage Tree, one of the lucky ones to be included Singapore's eminent program for protecting especially "valuable specimens" - with their worth calculated in terms of historical value, age, and size. This Mindanao scores on each of the criteria. Besides being over a century old and having a girth of over 3.4 meters, it is also historically significant, as it once grew at the Katong Fort that existed here during the British colonial days. The Fort is gone, the tree still stays.
There are currently 199 Heritage Trees in Singapore. Maybe I should go and portray them all?
A soft cocoon on the Mindanao, the butterfly waiting to fly out from its shelter.
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