I shared in this post some photographs that I took at my girl’s school of the bunga raya or the hibiscus – the national flower of Malaysia. It seems that there are so many different varieties these days unlike my growing up years, when usually, we would see this one…
…and another variety that is not so curly.
I do recall those times in school when we were asked to bring some of the blooms to class and we would study the parts and examine the cross-section and then draw pictures and diagrams in our exercise books and label them. I wonder if those of you who are much younger than me did the same thing too – maybe you would get everything in one of those commercially-produced and sold workbooks or activity books and all you had to do would be to label them? Those were the days when we had to bring everything ourselves to the science labs – snails, frogs, rats! Nowadays, if you ask those students in the big cities to bring any of those things to class, I don’t think you will get to see any at all, I’m sure.
I remember when I was in Form 1, my Science teacher was this thin and tall lady with a somewhat nasal voice called Miss Tiong – I gathered from hearsay that she was from Singapore. At one time, we had to bring garden snails to class…and while the lesson was in progress, two of them turned horny and started getting into the act. All of us saw that and had a hard time trying to stifle our laughter and when Miss Tiong saw that we were all distracted, she turned to look and saw what the attraction was. She walked straight up to the two and tore them apart and went on with the lesson, looking quite pissed off. LOL!!! Teachers in those days were all so prim and proper, no nonsense in class….and that brings to mind this very funny Thai commercial…
…that some of you may have watched before. LOL!!!
Anyway, going back to the hibiscus, I remember we had these pink ones…
…in our garden but they were much bigger. This one is quite small, about the size of carnations and I do think that the blood red ones are very nice – they look quite like carnations, actually. Unfortunately, I could not find any of those in full bloom and all I have at this point in time is this old snapshot of the bud…
*Archive photo*
This one is Β pink too…
…and yes, it is small as well, one of those seemingly stunted varieties, though that is not so obvious in the photograph.
I wonder if all countries have a national flower. If I’m not mistaken, the Vanda Miss Joaquim is the national flower of Singapore and of course, the rose is England’s and hence the title of Elton John’s tribute to the late Princess Diana. Come, let’s see how many others you all know…
STOP PRESS:
I did manage to snap a pic of the very red carnation-like hibiscus eventually so here it is…
I do like this one very much…with its striking red colour.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
my mom lovin this flower!!!
i used to suck some nectar from the flower once i was a kids,lol
Yes, I did see somewhere that they’re actually edible. Never tried though.
i have to say, all the hibiscuses you photographed look very healthy … banyak kembang! π
Hot and sunny these days, great for outdoor photography in natural light.
My favourite flowers are the frangipanis but not sure if it is a national flower. I especially love it when going to Island resorts they welcomed u with a fresh garland of frangipanis n the fragrance is so lovely it lingers in the room throughout our entire stay.so very rejuvenating!
Yes, the Pacific islanders love wearing those in their hair…and we see a lot at Payung Cafe here. Lovely…but not too popular as they always use it to make wreaths. π¦
Netherlands has their tulips.
Ah yes!!! How could I forget that! π
The blood red carnation-like one is very beautiful! I have to say it has been a very long while that I see one, it’s a rare sight. And lol about the snails in heat part! XD
LOL!!! I remember that so well – so hilarious!!! Didn’t help one bit that I was in a boys’ school…at that age when we just hit puberty not too long ago. π
I love the flower photos, they are stunning! π
I knew you’d love them! π
I like the photos of the hibiscus, being it single or double layer petals, pink or deep red and I have seen the yellow hibiscus too. Hahaha!!!!…thanks for sharing the nice video.
I love it…despite the tragic end of those two lizards. π
I remember seeing a white hibiscus in Sabah, something I have never seen elsewhere. Hibiscus are also a very popular plant here, with many varieties.
I’ve seen white ones with a red middle. Some people here plant all the varieties as a hobby – easy to plant…and way back in my younger days, we people just took them for granted, would not even bother giving the hibiscus a second glance – so common.
Hahaha! I have not seen that video before. Darn those Thai creative people! π
I love their tear-jerkers – they’re so so so good, not like our Malaysian ones since Yasmin Ahmad died. π¦
I like the pink colour one the most…
You like pink, eh? π
There are many hibiscus species now. Yellow hibiscus too.
Lovely snaps of the flowers.
Nice change from my usual food posts, eh? π
I never appreciated the hibiscus until much later in life. Eh, no food today? hee..hee..
Withdrawal symptoms, eh? No worries, normal programming will resume 5 past midnight tonight. π
They are just so lovely!!! πΊ
They are, our bunga raya.