Weeping Fig

How are you? I am Weeping Fig. My scientific name is Ficus Benjamina. I have three home countries: China, India and Malaysia. My trunk is straight and its color is gray. Its bark is very smooth. My leaves feel like leather. They are dark green and glossy. My fruits are a cluster of flowers and seeds surrounded by a rind. The birds often visit me because they like my fruits. I hope you and I can be friends who play together and have fun!

White Silk Cotton (Kapok)

Hello, everybody! I am White Silk Cotton. Like every plant, I have a scientific name too. My scientific name is Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn. It sounds very different, doesn't it? People also call me the Tree of Beauty because I have many thorns on my trunk. The thorns help me to protect myself from the animals. Young white silk cotton trees have sharper thorns. Therefore you need to be very careful not to hurt yourself when you come visit us. My trunk is usually green (with a few exceptions). That's how I recognize my siblings. If you want to make an exact distinction, you can look at our flowers. We bloom during the same period. Our flowers are very small and white. You have to look very carefully to discover them. Unlike us, cotton trees have red-orange flowers. They bloom after their leaves have fallen off the branches and their flowers are as big as a badminton shuttlecock. By looking at the flowers, you can easily tell if it's a white silk cotton tree or cotton tree.

Bottle Palm

Hello, I am Bottle Palm. My scientific name is Hyophorbe Lagenicaulis Mart. I grow in Mauritius and Madagascar (That's right! In the movie "Madagascar", Alex the lion and Marty the Zebra got trapped in my hometown.) I have a large round trunk that looks like a bottle. That's how I got my name. I have leaves as large as coconut palm tree leaves. From far away they look like feathers. I have a large cluster of very small and hairy flowers. My fruits look like dried lemons. After you got to know me a bit better after this short introduction of myself, I hope you can be my friend.

Taiwan Nato Tree

Hi, I am Taiwan Nato Tree. My scientific name is Palaquium Formosanum Hayata. You can find me in Taiwan's northern and southern forests and on Orchid Island. Yes, I am your neighbor---no doubt about that! My fruits look like olives with a little tail at the bottom. I have oval shaped leaves that are about 15cm long, some of them have a round tip others are more concave. My flowers bloom during winter. They are yellow-white with a very strong fragrant. You are welcome to eat my fruits, they are fleshy and have one to four seeds shaped like a spindle, at the sides they have distinct birthmarks. Usually, my trunk is black and contains juicy sap. My large roots are called buttress roots. Let's be friends. Come visit me when you have time!

Camphor Tree

Hi, it's very nice to meet you! I am Camphor Tree and my scientific name is Cinnamomum Camphora. I grow in Taiwan and in the southern provinces of China. In Japan I grow mostly on Okinawa. I have a very straight trunk with a rough reddish-brown or gray-brown bark. My leaves are oval-shaped with long stems. They feel like leather and smell of camphor when you rub them. On my branches I grow yellow-green flowers. My small fruits look like black pearls. I hope we can become friends and have fun together.

Q and A

1. Where is Weeping Fig's hometown? (A) United States (B) Japan (C) Canada (D) China
Answer: (D)

2. Which of the following plants doesn't grow in Taiwan? (A) Camphor (B) Bottle Palm (C) Taiwan Nato Tree Answer: (B)

3. Camphor tree leaves smell of camphor after rubbing.
Answer: (true)

4. What is the color of the broad-leaved mahogany flowers? (A) pink (B) purple (C) yellow (D) light green Answer: (D)

5. How did the Bottle Palm get its name? (A) It feels like leather. (B) It has small fruits like white pearls. (C) It has flowers that look like a bottle. (D) It has a trunk that's shaped like a bottle.
Answer: (D)

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