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Legend has it that there was
once a very tall tree that stood in Changi. This
tree must have been very significant as Corner
(1988) noted that the tree had been marked on maps
and had been used as a landmark for nearly a
century before. The famous "Changi tree" marked the
eastern approach to the Straits of Johore and was
felled in 1942 to prevent the Japanese artillery
from using it as a ranging point during World War
II. The Changi tree is most
probably Sindora wallichii, a species
belonging to the legume or peanut family.
Ironically, the area Changi is
probably named after
another species, Neobalanocarpus
helmii (Chengal), a tree belonging
to the dipterocarp family which is well known for
producing excellent timber trees like the meranti
and seraya. Sindora
wallichii or sepetir daun tebal is
also a well-known timber tree. It is a tree of
inland or coastal primary forests. In Singapore,
the Changi tree can be found in Bukit Timah Nature
Reserve, Lazarus Island (only one individual left)
and as survivors of pre-war deforestation in Changi
(Loo and Tan, 1997). It has a columnar trunk, which
is smooth and dark brown in colour. The leaves are
compound and consist of about 3 pairs of leaflets
arranged opposite to each other. Most
characteristic of this species are the disc-shaped
"pods" or to be more correct &endash; legumes,
which are spiny. The legumes enclose a
curious-looking aril-covered seed. The aril is a
fleshy covering (not unlike the creamy flesh of the
durian!), yellowish in colour and is eaten by
rodents that help disperse them in the process
(Ridley,1930). The
stature of the Changi tree was no
myth. Testament
to its great height is this photograph of it taken
in 1936 by George Crouch and published on the cover
of the Malayan Nature Journal (vol 22, 1969)
[see the picture on the right]. The height
of this tree can be appreciated by comparing the
white building in the background of the photo
[click
to see enlarged photo of
building]. The Changi tree met its end
in February 1942. H.M., Burkill (1969), a former
Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens,
remembered, as a P.O.W. in Changi, seeing it lying
near the road side, its stump blasted by a cutting
charge of explosive planted 10 feet above the
ground. Reid and Quaife (1970), in
their Changi P.O.W. diary, give a more vivid
account. "After several attempts the Sappers
blew off the top 100 ft or so but they left 150 ft
or more sticking up, bare and branch-less, like a
factory chimney (J.A.R. Changi notes). After the
fall of Singapore (which legend said would happen
if the tree fell) and the imprisonment of the
British forces in Changi, the trunk was climbed
with ropes, severed with explosive about 10 to 20
ft above the ground and used for firewood as far as
we remember. Some time later the 10&endash;20 ft
stump was sawn off with difficulty a little away
above the ground level where the buttresses
commenced, at which point it was 11.5 ft in
diameter (W.T.Q.). Some of the timber from this
portion was made into souvenirs. So in January 1942
this magnificent Sindora
(sepetir) was probably over 250 ft (76.2
m) and had a trunk 11.5 ft (3.5 m) in
diameter." Reid and Quaife also
remembered finding the rounded, flattened and spiny
legumes at the foot of the tree. Close-by, there
were also some seedlings that he and company tried
to encourage by clearing and fencing around them.
"
, but whether they survived or not we do
not know." Perhaps the simple
conservation efforts of Reid and Quaife have paid
off. More than half a century later, we still find
a Changi tree, perhaps an offspring, not as tall
but nevertheless magnificent, standing within the
compounds of a bungalow along Netheravon Road,
Changi. |
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References:
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in "Chapter 1 - Early Days" from his book "The history of Changi", 1965. |