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  • News & article

    Jack of all fruits

    B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 09/10/2016

    » The world population was listed at one billion in 1804. Statistics show that 123 years passed before it reached two billion in 1927, but it took only 33 years to hit the three billion mark in 1960. From then on it rose by leaps and bounds, taking only 14 years to reach four billion in 1974 and 13 years to rise to five billion in 1987. I still remember reading about the world population reaching six billion in 1999. It now stands at 7.5 billion, and it took only 17 years to reach that number.

  • News & article

    The agony andthe ecstasy

    B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 15/05/2016

    » I was ecstatic when I saw fruits hanging for the first time from the branches of my Pouteria campechiana tree, otherwise known as canistel or eggfruit. It is called lamut khamen in Thai but actually few Thais know it, and even fewer have tasted it. I suspect that the first tree grown in Thailand came from the seed of a fruit taken from across the border in Cambodia, and the grower named it "lamut khamen" after the country or its people (khamen is the Thai word for Cambodian), as he did not know its proper name.

  • News & article

    No slacking off in hunt for salak

    B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 14/08/2016

    » Roy Cruise sent me an email asking where to find chempedak (Artocarpus integer), salak (Salacca zalacca) and gandaria (Bouea macrophylla) in Thailand. A friend of his in Cavite, Philippines, had asked him to look for the said fruit trees but he has not been able to find them in Mae Hong Son, where he lives. "I was wondering if you had any idea where I may find them?" he asked.

  • News & article

    Ginger up

    B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 27/11/2016

    » Regular reader Paul Schiller sent me a photo of a plant growing in a flower pot at his summer home in Khao Lak, Phangnga province. "Do you know this small beauty?" he asked. The plant was a cluster of lance-shaped bright green leaves, with a terminal pendant inflorescence hanging from each stem. What's attractive about the plant was the unusual inflorescence, which comprised of showy, widely spaced purple bracts. From the base of each bract emerged the long, tube-like pedicel of a small yellow flower. The plant's stems and leaves are those characteristically belonging to members of the ginger family.

  • News & article

    Oasis in the concrete jungle

    B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 30/10/2016

    » It rained hard in the wee hours of the morning that day I went to King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital two weeks ago. As I walked past the Department of Laboratory Medicine building, a sudden burst of sound filled the air. I stopped to look and listen, and was mesmerised by what I saw.

  • News & article

    Sleep has never been this appealing

    B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 12/06/2016

    » When a friend learned that I have trouble sleeping, she told be about an article she had just read recommending banana tea for those suffering from insomnia. "All you have to do is boil an unpeeled banana, with both ends cut off, in a small pot of water for 10 minutes. Pour the water through a colander into a mug, and drink it one hour before bed," she instructed.

  • News & article

    Let the sunshine in

    B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 02/10/2016

    » A Filipino friend of mine who lives in the US was enamoured with a plant he saw on Facebook. It was rather expensive but he bought it anyway. The seller was in the Philippines so he had it delivered to his sister, with whom he stays during his visits home.

  • News & article

    Flowers of flame

    B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 10/04/2016

    » The Tabebuia rosea, or chompoo panthip, on Kasetsart University's Kamphaeng Saen campus in Nakhon Pathom province caused a traffic jam as it attracted people from far and near last February. The trees were planted on both sides of the road and when they dropped all their leaves, only to be blanketed by flowers all at the same time, they were a sight to behold.

  • News & article

    Clearing the air

    B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 18/09/2016

    » I posted a photo of a plant on Facebook and was pleased with the interest that it aroused among some friends. "What is it?" several asked. "Is it aloe vera? Is it malunggay [maroom in Thai]?"

  • News & article

    If you can stand the heat

    B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 01/05/2016

    » It's especially hot, of course, in Thailand during the summer months. But judging from the way Cassia fistula is blooming heavily this year, this summer has been even hotter than previous years.

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