Come to Penang in early April and you will be greeted with garlands of delightful yellow flowers. These flowers of the Angsana bloom after each drought, welcoming the early rains.
Penang is a garden filled with angsanas, more so two or three decades ago than now....but still the giant angsanas of Mcalister, Perak, Western and Scotland roads never ceased to amaze me....planted more than 70 years ago, they are a sight to behold.....not the puny, wimpy ones you see in KL or Orchard Road (Singapore)...but giants that were allowed to grow unhindered many many years ago before "cars ate up penang" and whatever we have in terms of space between the front of the house and the side of a road.....
Giants or relics.....sometimes 'butchered' by the Tenaga and City Council staff....with their tops lopped off.....yet remarkably the giants still survived the butchery....
The angsana also known as "narra" in the Philippines produced a very beautiful cabinet wood....cabinets, tables, table tops, chairs and carvings made from the wood are exquisite. Belonging to the same genus Pterocarpus, as rosewood.....you see why the wood is so fine....
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