mickey mouse bush, Dillenia/Wormia suffruticosa

Fellow blogger in the Philippines mentioned a plant they call Mickey Mouse. It is interesting that different regions call different plants by different names. In two much older posts, I posted with passion this Mickey Mouse plant.

Last week, I found my cousins on Facebook. The thing is I have never met them before. I left Borneo before they were born.

Here is a post I wrote when I thought of their Dad, the uncle I loved the most, and he stayed with us for many years before he was married.

Francis, my 6th Uncle used to buy motor bikes like my Grandpa saying, changing bikes like changing shoes.

I was seventeen. One day, out of the blue, Francis asked if I wanted to ride his bike. Boy! did I want to ride his bike. He showed me the ropes and I was off. Our road was a private cul-de-sac. On both sides were long lalang grass, and Mickey Mouse shrub.

I got on the bike with wind blowing in my face and zoomed. I wasn't very steady and before I knew it, I had crashed the bike to a Mickey Mouse bush. I fell and the bike landed on top of me.

Francis asked, if I was hurt.

I replied, No, just a few scratches from the sharp lalang grass. It was my ego which was bruised. I never rode a bike again.

Francis died prematurely at 55. I was in Singapore when the family rang me. When I see the mickey mouse shrubs, I cry a tear for him.

http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/plants/simpoh_air.htm



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