FLORA

Many plants we assiduously and lovingly cultivate as pot plants in the West-poinsettia, dracaena, coleus, begonias-grow in riotous profusion along the roadsides of Bali and have to be hacked back with machetes. Due to difference in altitude, rainfall, temperatures, and humidity, there's a wide variation in the types of plants in bloom from month to month on Bali.
     Along Bali's roads and crowding its markets are stands selling all manner of fruits of strange colors, shapes, and sizes. All the usual varieties known in tropical Asia are grown on Bali, plus about 20 or so grown nowhere else, such as the enormous grapefruit-like pomelo (jeruk Bali). For a description of Bali's fruits, instructions on how to eat them, their Balinese names, and when they come into season, see "Fruits" under "Food and Entertainment" in the On the Road chapter.

FLOWERS

Flower fragrances are especially adored by the Balinese and their gods. Fresh flowers are required offerings in almost all temple rituals and ceremonies, a way of providing a pleasing environment for spirits and ancestors during their frequent visits to Earth. The Balinese also use flowers to decorate themselves ; statues of gods and goddesses are adorned with flowers; legong dancers wear crowns of blossoms; each time a Balinese prays s/he holds a flower between the fingers. Before a bemo driver sets out for the day his wife or daughter prepares for him a floral offering, or canang. Indeed, flowers are so much in demand here that it's rare to see flowering trees in full bloom.
     The majority of the delightful flowers you see are not native to Bali but have been introduced from around the world, either imported in recent years or centuries ago by Indian or Arab traders. With the Chinese grafting everything and people bringing plants back and forth from Hawaii, it's difficult to tell anymore what's native to Bali and what's not.
     The variety is astounding: the hardy, colorful bougainvillea (bunga kertas), climbing over walls and balconies; the common gardenia (jempiring) and hydrangea (pacah seribu); poinsettias; the rose (maya); the spiked tumbak raja; the star-shaped, lavender manori; the jasmine (menuh), a symbol of holiness; the common marigold (mitir). The malu-malu, a sort of creeping mimosa, is known as the "sensitive plant" because its leaves fold compactly at the slightest touch-thus its Balinese name, meaning "shy."
     The trumpet-shaped red or orange hibiscus (pucuk), which adorns the ears of temple statues, come in all shapes and sizes. The large-leafed, floating water lily or lotus (Nelubium nelumbo) can be detected from a distance because of its fragrant smell and beautiful colors. The Balinese believe it to be the flower of the goddesses in heaven; this aqueous plant has a high religious value on Bali and is also used as a traditional medicine.
     There's a great variety of flowering trees and shrubs: the acacia; ornamental kenyeri (oleanders); the bright orange African tulip trees; the spectacular flame tree merak;the pure white cempaka, a large type of magnolia, with a strong long-lasting delicious fragrance; clusters of sweet-smelling white, pink, and red frangipani (bangan jepun) blossoms; the stunning flamboyant (flamboyan); the Singapore rhododendron; the bright orange didap, used in cremation processions; the datura or "Handkerchief Tree" with its drooping white or pink flowers; the firecracker hibiscus; the kecubung, keduk-duk, sabita-the list goes on.
     The best place to see flowers is in the front yards and living fences of private homes; ask the proprietor or concierge to take you on a botanical tour of your hotel or homestay garden. The Nusa Dua hotels and Hotel Tanjung Sari and the Bali Hyatt in Sanur are famous for their brilliant year-round floral displays. Village markets all have flower stalls that sell flowers for offerings. Also visit the big nurseries of Niti Mandala, near Renon, in East Denpasar.
     The Lila Graha Botanical Gardens in Candikuning offers a well-presented collection of orchids and exotics. Behind the Candikuning market are dozens of stalls selling such dazzling flowers as gardenias, roses, canna lilies, heliconia, marigolds, and cock's combs at very good prices. The grounds of the Bali Handara Country Club, also in the Bedugul area, are definitely worth visiting. By the side of the road from Mengwi up to Candikuning flowers grow everywhere. Also visit the orchid nursery near Blahbatuh in Gianyar Regency; commercial orchid nurseries are also found on the road from Denpasar to Sanur.
     If you can find it in a hotel or supermarket bookstore, get a copy of Fred and Margaret Eiseman's well-researched Flowers of Bali containing 35 color photos of Bali's native flowers. In 1995, Thames and Hudson published Balinese Gardens, written by William Warren, Adrian Vickers, and Anthony Whitten, with photographs by Luca Invernezzi Tettoni, which beautifully illustrates numerous examples of contemporary and traditional Bali gardens.

TREES

Offerings are frequently made to trees, especially in southern Bali. Selected, representative trees are adorned with ceremonial parasols and dressed in traditional black-and-white checkered cloth (kain poleng), scarf (saput), and headband (udeng)-the same dress Balinese men wear to temple. The Balinese believe that in large trees dwell a host of spirits and demons; one often sees offerings placed on the ground before them, shrines constructed in their branches high above the ground. Legend has it that temples have even been founded next to important, spiritually charged trees. There are small, sacred reserves of trees all over the island, such as the Monkey Forest of Ubud and the majestic grove of dipterocarps at Sangeh.
     Myriad uses are found for trees. Tree-trunk hollows are used as signal logs to call people to prayer, much like church bells in the West. The sacred milkwood (pule), sought after by woodworkers, is used to make the fearsome Rangda masks. In October, kasia trees, with huge clusters of bright yellow flowers, beautify the main road between Sanur and Tanjung Bungkak. Venerable tamarind trees line kilometer after kilometer of roads in northern Bali east of Singaraja; you can also see these huge shade trees on Jl. Suropati alongside Puputan Square in Denpasar.
     Plantations of clove (cingke) trees grace the highland road from Penulisan, winding down the mountains to the northern coast. Acacia trees and other members of the mimosa family line long stretches of the Bypass Highway; planters are also reforesting the ocean side of this highway with five species of mangrove. In southern Bali, thick tangles of mangrove turn shallow tidal flats into valuable solid ground.
     The stately, solitary kepuh tree, a member of the kapok family, populates Balinese cemeteries. It's believed that on moonlit nights its eerie-looking branches are infested with evil birds and demons, its branches festooned with the entrails of the dead, its roots winding in and out of skulls and bones. The kepuh is sacred to Durga, Goddess of Death.
     Leaves from the dadap tree are used for ngotonin, the birthday celebration for children, and in the beakawonan wedding ceremony. Tiger's claws (tjangin), a species of Erythrina, has scarlet flowers which grow in clusters, protected by "claws" or spines which cover the tree's entire surface. These trees are planted by farmers along irrigation canals or used as fences to keep animals and humans out of sawah. To be pricked by its thorns is excruciatingly painful; the thorns are capable of penetrating rubber thongs.
     Bali's most famous trees are the massive banyans (beringan) which hang over roads and temple gates, spreading their feathery branches and hundreds of vine-like trailers. Left unchecked, these creepers will take root and spread a canopy over an entire hectare. When the aerial roots of this sacred tree are cut to make room for a road, the workers need to be protected by prayers invoked by a priest. Considered holy and immortal, this member of the fig family is most often found inside temples or near the main puri of a village. There's a special atmosphere under the shady pillars of a gnarled old banyan, where often a small shrine is placed in the gloom. The largest blooming banyan in the world-virtually a forest-is found in Bongkasa, a few kilometers west of Ubud.

The Palms
Twelve varieties of the coconut palm (nyuh) exist on Bali. The palm provides tools, food, drink, and habitation; every part of the tree is used by the Balinese. So essential is the coconut tree in everyday life that the Balinese make special offerings to it once a year. The farmer knocks the tree three times to waken it, prayers for a plentiful harvest are said, then the tree and offerings are sprinkled with holy water. Coconut palms are individually owned, often by a different person than the owner of the land. The coconuts on the tree are the property of the tree's owner, but a coconut that falls belongs to the person who picks it up. A good tree produces about 50-100 mature nuts per year for 50 years.
     One of the world's biggest seeds, the coconut provides copra, and its milk and grated meat are important ingredients in many Balinese dishes. Young coconuts, always available on request, make a sweet and refreshing drink, and their soft jelly-like meat is a real treat. White coconut oil is the only oil used for cooking on Bali. Frothy palm beer, tuak, is also derived from this tree.
     The strong, hard, pest-resistant wood of the tree makes outstanding building timber. The woody husk is excellent fuel for cooking fires, the black husk fiber (duk) is utilized as an abrasive dish cleaner, and for brushes, rope, brooms, and as a roofing material. The Balinese use the small leaves of the central branch to fashion containers.
     Whole coconut leaves (don nyuh) are the primary material in woven mats (tikar) used for sitting or as temporary walls or roofing. Any Balinese can fashion a coconut leaf into a small tikar in 15 minutes. Many of the intricate and beautiful offerings made by Balinese women are fashioned from the young leaves of this useful palm. The yellow coconuts of the dwarf coconut tree provide a receptacle for holy water.
     Other indispensable palms are the sugar, sago, and lontar. The Balinese use the toffee-like leaves of the sugar palm to make offerings, particularly the magnificent lamak banners that adorn gateways during the twice-yearly Galungan celebration. From the sago, with its huge dark green fronds, is extracted ijuk, the black thatching fiber. The palm also provides the Balinese with a handsome dark-grained wood, jakuh, utilized for making tool handles. As elsewhere in eastern Indonesia, the pith of the tree is processed into sago flour.
     The lontar provides the raw materials for making many everyday articles. Lontar leaves, after being dried and pressed, are bound into book pages and inscribed with elegant Sanskrit-like Balinese characters (tulisan Bali). Bali's most important historical chronicles have been written on lontar leaves.

BAMBOO

Thirteen species of this giant grass grow on Bali. Bamboo (tiing) has countless uses: it can be eaten, fed to cattle, made into paper, rice steamers, clothespins, crab traps, boxes, flutes, ladders, firecrackers, fishing poles, and unbelievably strong twine. Lengths of bamboo tubing are used as haunting resonators in xylophonic instruments, and sometimes whole orchestras consist of bamboo key instruments which produce a unique, mellow, liquid sound.
     Sections of tubing make a perfect cup for imbibing tuak. Long, flat strips of bamboo tubing are fashioned into mats, baskets, and walls. Tables, chairs, and other furniture are made of attractive spotted bamboo (tiing tutul). Bamboo irrigation water pipes, often several kilometers long, arc over Balinese roads. Halved bamboo stalks are used as clappers in the rice fields to scare away birds. Ingenious and melodious musical windmills are also made of bamboo.
     The Environmental Bamboo Foundation, Box 196, Ubud 80571, tel. (0361) 974027, fax 974029, based in an experimental community in Nyuhkuning three kilometers south of Ubud, is promoting this remarkable and ancient plant-one of the fastest growing on earth-as a viable replacement for deforested or ecologically blighted lands.