Today is Garden Bloggers Bloom Day for May 2011. Leading the bloom parade is my bread flowers (Vallaris glabra) which we locals call it Kesidang. It is difficult to photograph the flower as they always seem to be drooping downwards. Well, this vine just loves to climb high. Whenever it flowers, we will first sense the fragrance, then we look up or around us, we shall see the sweet, starry blooms.
It has the scent of Pandan, our favourite aromatic herb and also that of 'nasi lemak', our favourite coconut flavoured rice. Many Malaysians who grew up in a 'kampong' or countryside will have fond childhood memories associated with this plant. The fragrance is very pronounced in the mornings and evenings. A whiff of pandan always reminds me of home cooked food.
Rumphius (1628-1702) wrote about it as one of the perfumed flowers which the peoples of the Malay Archipelago were fond of using back in the old days, once upon a time, long, long ago.....
