Bali Botany

On vacation to Bali, Indonesia I was keeping my eyes peeled for interesting plants. On one of the first walks that I took, I noticed a couple of P. vitifolia plants at some restaurants. It had no pollen; probably 'Scarlet Flame'. Additionally, I noticed a Dysosimia growing with some other road side weeds in a trash heap (as is common). It was P. foetida I think, but none of the flowers were fully open and the fruit were all green.

On Mt. Batur, a volcano on Bali, I tasted a fruit that fascinated me. Snake fruit (Salacca zalacca) has a scaly brown skin that flakes and chips away. The meat of the fruit has milky white garlic like appearance and a sweet but tangy taste. It's a bit astringent, but I like that effect. The palm tree, which I didn't see in person, has 6" long spines and the fruit grows at the bottom of it. I've never seen it in the States. Another first for me was soursop (Annona muricata) which tasted exactly like a green apple flavored custard. It's a big, green, spined fruit that grows on a large tree.