Ginger, Zingiber officinalis. About 400 members of the ginger family grow wild in tropical Asia, but this particular variety is known as ginger.
The second group of plants carried by immigrants consisted of those used for food and medicine. The Neem tree, Azadiracta indica, a veritable pharmacoepia by itself, came early to the Malay Peninsula from India. Ginger, Zingiber officinalis, so ancient in use that its place of origin is unknown, is used for both purposes, as is coriander and turmeric. Other introduced culinary herbs include lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus), from South India, and various rhizomes and leaves of the Curcuma family.
Saracca taipingensis. Named after the town in Malaysia where it was first recorded, this is a leguminous tree that flowers in flushes with large masses of flowers that are the delight of bees. Large seed pods follow. The flowers range from a pale mustard colour to a deeper orange in different varieties.
Nelumbium, the lotus, a flower associated with many religions and which appears in art, food and architecture.
Duranta repens or D. procumbens. Wrongly identified in the early days of Singapore as Heliotrope, an understandable error as it closely resembles the Heliotrope. It has sweetly scented flowers, followed by golden trusses of berries.
Gardens of the past reflected these ethnic tastes. The more well-off Chinese, particularly the Peranakans, had spacious houses by the seaside in the Katong district. A characteristic feature of these homes were plants in large, decorative Chinese clay or porcelain pots, in which were planted, according to the fashion of the day, Adeniums (native to the dry climate of Aden) or Spathoglottis (native to the Malay archipelago). The bright-yellow Oncidium "Golden Shower", a local hybrid, also enjoyed a great vogue.
The Indian population tended to live in town or on rural estates in the interior, and plants with an especially Indian character were to be found around their homes. Among these were the drumstick tree (Moringa oleifera), various gourds for the Indian vegetarian diet, and the curry leaf (Murraya koenigii), Piper betele, the masticatory leaf, as well as such ornamentals as Tabernaemontana and marigold (for offerings) and a crimson rose of unknown origin, also used by Malays who call it the Bunga mawar. This is the only rose that grows easily in Singapore. It is fully double with a strong sweet scent and has been used to make rose syrup. Rose syrup forms part of a non alcoholic drink popular among Muslims when mixed with milk called Syrup Bandung.
The middle classes of all ethnicities had similar gardens with a patch of lawn, flowering shrubs, bamboo clumps, or cannas in island beds or planted along driveways, perhaps an orchid enclosure or fern house. There were vogues for various plants from time to time, very much as happens in garden circles today Pink, lavender, and white forms of Spathoglottis, planted along driveways, were popular up until the 1950s when a craze for the yellow form from the Philippines arrived. Helicoma psittacorum, called Japanese canna even up to the 1950s, was common in the 1930s, as were hedges of the 'shoe flower' (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis), a thin bamboo, Hymenocallis Crinum and the salmon-coloured Hippeastrum. All homes also had their kitchen herbs and plants. The Singapore Gardening Society aroused a greater interest in ornamental plants and nurseries were established to cater to it.
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