Hi Dr Juan/Dr Khadijah,

Recently I found the shy plant with yellow flower , which is first time i saw than the usual seen pink/purple/white.

Is the plant same species/variation under Mimosa Pudica?

It was found near the riverside of Coney Island, Singapore; which the reservoir park was just recently open for public.

(1) Flower


(2) Leaves


(3) Seeds?


(4) Tips?

Dear Leong,

Thanks for the posting and sorry for this late response. I am conducting research and sampled the leaves which make me juggling between Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.

This yellow shy plant is Neptunia oleraceae Lour. Like Mimosa pudica, the leaves of Neptunia oleracea are also "sleep" when it was touched. The plat grows on still-water and an invasive weed. However, according to my observation, the plant is not that commonly found and has preference to grow on clear water (not on the muddy). Neptunia oleraceae is planted at Taman Pertanian - UPM as a medicinal plant. I was told by a staff that her family cooks (stir-fries) the young leaves and eaten as vegetable. The young shoot is fleshy and looks delicious. By its look, I do believe it should be a nice item to be put into the salad mixture.

Photo number 3 is flower buds and number 4 is a dried seed pot.

Hi Dr Khadijah,

Thanks for taking time responding the post!
It seems the reservoir park was quite unpolluted for current being.

As far as I heard from Herping Eathusiast, clear water also attract some insect as well,
for example like dragonflies, which choose to lay eggs in clear water, in order to secure the breed for next generation.

Now I know certain animals and plants can be indicator for clean water.

Dear Leong,

I also like to observe the environment. I always keen to see the changes of the ecosystem and to know the probable causes of the changes. For instance the disappearance of dragonfly.

While I was a kid, we stayed in city area of Medan - Sumatra. There, I saw dragonflies in various color, shape, and size. Back then, I recall the drainage was clear and there were many weeds grow along the drainage. Despite my family is currently staying in village area, I hardly see a dragonfly. Like anywhere, the water drainage is black, stinking, and lack of weed. The increase of population is often used as the reason of environmental pressures. How to look on the lacking of weeds along the canal? Pollution due to the the massive usages of detergent is the proper answer. Likewise, I concern a lot on the medicated soaps those are advertised can kill up to 99.9% germs.

The presence of certain plants and animals on the nature may provide the environment indication. Their presence is also often used to study the toxicity level of consumed pollutant in human as some plants and animals may grow well on the highly polluted areas. On the other hand, how to behave on the green revolution in agriculture which is certainly not clean and healthy since it is based on fertilizers and pesticides. Since then, how save to consume the vegetables and fruits, how good the freshness of sugar cane juice, how healthy the beautiful red strawberry? There are many inquiries have been popped out which opposed the initial announcement of these these chemical products. Ecosystem once again the one who suffer at most. For example, many fresh water fishes have been lost in their habitat.

Public awareness may nurture the habits and the practices subject to the environmental issues. when it is followed with a simple act such as planting some vegetables may lead to recognize the needed and usefulness items on daily basis.