-bijanto-

Hi all, Here's a pict taken from murple's article on Iamshaman: One of those 2 pods (shown on top of the pict) looks exactly like mine at the moment, with holes on the surface but has turned brown and dried now (still hanging on the tree). The one shown at the bottom of the pict looks totally different, it looks more developed, which I havent seen yet in my plant so far. So I guess it could be the more developed form of seed pod, which could happen to my pods anytime later, but the heavy rainfall (almost everyday now) could destroy them as well. Should I pick the pod now, or later? I asked murple about his pict, he said he doesnt know if those pods he has are mature. He found them in a bag of kratom, so they couldve been picked before maturity. He said that most likely if you have a pod that has turned brown and dried, if you open it up it will contain mature seeds.

I live in Java, Indonesia. As far as I know, Mitragyna speciosa has never been found anywhere around here, but I guess you can find it in Sumatra Island as it shares its border with Malaysia. There must be wild Mitragyna javanica somewhere in Java but I haven't been able to locate it. Mitragyna parvifolia is cultivated in Bogor Botanical Garden.

I appreciate it planthelper, thank's

Hi Jackson, You'd be very lucky if you could find there some tubers of Pueraria mirifica. These plants are commonly found in abundant in the forests in the north, the west and the northeast of Thailand at the altitude of 300-800 meters above sea level, its one of the most valuable plant in Thailand, sought frequently by Japanese. The locals call this plant "Kreu Khao". The kreu khao bulb doesn't look like ginger or turmeric, it's more fat and round like yam or potato. An SAB mate went there to get some bulbs but the locals cheated him, instead of kreu khao, they sold him some other plant's bulbs. Active principles in this plant are found in the tuberous root, which looks like a chain of round-shaped bulbs of various sizes connected to the next one via small root throughout the entire length of the root. The shape and size of the tuberous root are diverse depending on the environment in which it exists. Please check out this link: SAB Past Discussions on Pueraria mirifica if you can send me some kreu khao bulbs, I'd be happy to pay or trade. Good luck!

STAGE 5 OF FLOWER DEVELOPMENT This pict was taken this morning. The flower head has been turning brown slowly (in the process of forming seed pod??). Much slower than I thought.

'Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory' - General George S. Patton -

- Piper betle (there some varieties including red-silver leaves) - Acorus calamus (it's aromatic, too.. will do well in vase with some water at the base)

Torsten and Darklight, I didn't know that there were going to be TWO grandfathers for these future babies , until I saw Darklight's kratom TC images of early days in the image gallery. Anyway, I know you should be proud to see these pictures, as you realize that your effort is fruitful. So, this is a Christmas present for both of you. These pictures are yours. Maybe you two can publish your kratom cultivation guide someday. I know the plant is illegal to grow in Australia, but whatever grow from your mind can't be illegal, can they? You're right. Today I looked closer to another yellow blooming flower and took the petals out...and I could see the white flower head with holes just like the previous two, and I could also see some pollen. Thank's, I'll do that and perhaps a little experiment to see how long the seeds stay viable.

Hmmm, I hope the stamen and the pistil exist in the same plant and it'll set seed finally.

STAGE 4 OF FLOWER DEVELOPMENT Now I'm really surprised This morning, the second yellow flower was gone, too. Someone took the flower, again? When I tried to look closer and make sure that it was really gone just like the previous one, I found two white flowers instead. They are smaller than the yellow flowers (which are now really gone), but these white flowers have small holes around the flower head. They grow in the middle of a "Y" shape twig, closely guarded at both sides by the green spikey flowers about the same size. I didn't see them before, either because they were not there yet or because I just didn't notice. I don't know why I tend to think that these are supposed to be the female, but they could be the next stage of the same flowers, which means that those yellow flowers were not gone and have just been transforming. Will be coming back :D

At the moment, I don't know if it will set seed. Actually I've found it a bit strange that I can't find any satisfying answer on whether kratom is dioecious or monoecious. The oldest flower is now still at stage 4, which is fully blooming like at stage 3 but has more rich, brighter or darker yellow than the stage 3 flower (the yellow color at stage 3 looks pale, more like a mix of white and yellow). I had 2 of those yellow flowers just several days ago but one of them was gone yesterday. Someone passing by the road might picked it, so now I have only one yellow flower and many green flower buds (stage 1 & 2). There was a cute bee visiting the yellow flower this morning so I hope it will pollinate and turn into seed. Temps here are between 19 to 31 C with 26/27 C of average, and there are wet/rain season from Oct-Mar and dry season from Apr-Sept. Here in my area, it starts to flower in the beginning of rain season. It's 5 years from plantlet, I got it in a small (+/- 5 cm) tube with agar medium. Usually, plants that grow vegetatively will set flower sooner than plants grown from seed. I think I should send them these picts, Rev. The problem is, I sent them many other interesting plant images about 5 months ago, and just one month later I got their messages, saying that those pictures are qualified and worthy...but now I still haven't seen any of them published. Funny thing is, nobody here seems to know this plant. Some of them looked at the spikey flower and thought it might be some kind of mini Durian fruit (Durio zibethinus). I'll be back here later with update on any further stages of development of this tree, including possible seed development.

OK Here's a new stuff I've learned from a Sudanese student in my class here in Melbourne. Actually the right pronounciation for Iboga is 'I-BONG-GA' (not I-BO-GA) and for yohimbe is YO-IM-BE (not YO-HIM-BE). At least that's what my ear could hear when he talked. Despite that, I feel symphaty for him as I've told that he's one of the refugees who have fled the civil War in Sudan. In Melbourne, many Sudanese families are surviving on one meal a day and sharing houses with other families to save money. [ 02. September 2005, 08:00: Message edited by: -bijanto- ]

I'm going to visit Melbourne on August, anyone here lives nearby? I don't know what I'm gonna do there for ten weeks, except for studying english...anything interesting there to see while I'm free from the class room? Maybe a source of real kava-kava plant, a book store that sells complete collection of ethnobot books? Any botanical garden? Funky nurseries? One of you guy (I think) wrote me a friendly letter, thank you..I just wanna say that I would really love to bring many ethnobot stuffs like Cola seeds, Nutmeg seeds/arils, Betel nuts, but I'm afraid I wouldn't dare to do that, firstly because I've heard how Aussie customs treat this matter, 2. because I look like a creature from 'the' bombings country, and 3. because the essay writing competition was held by your radio and the all-expense paid prize to study and stay there will be awarded personally by your ambassador David Ritchie... so I'm kinda hesitate to do anything that might be against them. [ 08. April 2005, 22:15: Message edited by: -bijanto- ]

Thank's mates, this city has a lot of cool stuffs, for example I can find meals from the whole world by just walking down a few blocks...and there are some street artists performing arts on Swanston St. I saw hundreds of ppl gathered around a big screen TV in front of the Federation square watching 'footie' game between Aussie vs New Zealand, where the NZ supporters were dressed up like the Maori tribes with their traditional boat and were singing together. Man, they were so full of enthusiasm there... never seen anything like that before. [ 07. September 2005, 04:09: Message edited by: -bijanto- ]

quote: Mind you, I don't feel sorry for the idiots who 'trust in god' and stayed in their homes (by choice) even after the evacuation order.I don't think God would like them either Anyway. I believe that 'this' life is like a dream. It's a very short period of time as compared to the 'actual' life (I mean the life after death). Just like when you dip your finger in the ocean. The water that drips from your finger is nothing comparable to the rest of the water in the ocean. At least that's what my mind can imagine. But even if it's short, this life is very important and I must be very careful because it is like having 2 roads to the other life: the first takes you to the right direction and the other will lead to the wrong direction. It's really a matter of choice, and my only duty is to choose the road and pick a suitable car to take me to my destination. And if you had a bad dream (as if you have done a lot of good things in your life), you would wake up smiling. So there must something very important that they call: heaven and hell. So there are only these 2 choices. If you do a lot of good things in your life, you will go to heaven, otherwise you will go to hell. But it's not our duty to know what God wants and why, because we wouldn't understand anyway. There are a lot of things in my life that I have never understood why, but I believe my brain would not be capable of understanding that now. It's not my duty to judge. I would understand it later after I wake up from my dream, ie. after the day when my spirit gets out of my body when I die. But as long as I live, I will try as much as I can to keep myself alive. I believe that as a human, my duty is to fight for my life as hard as I can, even if I know that how long I will live is a God will. I could kill myself if I want but it would mean I don't respect my life and it would be bad. [ 07. September 2005, 04:12: Message edited by: -bijanto- ]

quote: Sudan is a long way from where these plants are native, so I am not sure why a sudanese has more knowledge of their pronunciation.He knows that because traders from other African countries came to Sudan. He said that Sudanese also has native traditional medicinal plants and the related tradition as well.

It's like in "ear", or "if".

Well, I've just been here for 9 days. Terrific, I love Melboune :D

quote: My only question is: how does a homosexual man come across pictures like this in his normal perusal of the internet?This is only a joke, but is it possible that, whoever made that picture did that to show a willingness to [mentally] torture the lady as an expression of anger or hate?? . But when T came up with the second pict, I know I had to give up my theory then. It cracks me up when thinking that T has put a wider meaning to 'ethnobotany'.

AndyAmine, I've never seen Mitragyna in Java but so far it's legal. Someone said to look for M.javanica but havent spot any single tree. I've heard this plant grows in Sumatra under the local name 'Ketum'. That's also what it's called in Malaysia, but Sumatra and Malaysia both share things in common. I feel funny but the plant was a gift from a friend in Aussie - back in 2000 or 2001 when it was still legal in Aussie, of course Ahh yes, my experience in dealing with property right is a pain in the arse. I found that the land was lack of legal documents so I had to arrange it later. It wouldn't be surprising if 2 different persons can show a document for the same piece of land. No wonder there are so many disputes going to the court. Speaking of the court, that's another long story - I'd be too far OOT. Non-citizens can own a building if they reside here. But for the land, they are given "utility right" instead of "ownership right". But as you said, it's a 'trouble source'