April's Durian Flowers

 Nowadays the durian trees are all flowering as and when they feel like.

last year , a lot of durians were harvested from November to December. Then suddenly, many durian trees are now flowering. This is April 2014!!

We are delighted to be expecting a good durian season in July but then were are wondering why too. Because durians are usually harvest once a year.


The flowers have a strong odor which attracts its principle pollinator, a small bat called a Dawn Bat (Eonycteris spelea). They grow in clusters of 1 to 45 flowers directly from the trunk or main branch. The large flowers are creamy white to golden-brown in color. The outer part of the flower is fleshy and has 5 fused sepals and 5 petals. Long stamens hang down from the center of the petals. The flowers are hermaphrodites, meaning they have a stamen and a pistil in the same flower. However, the flowers can't pollinate themselves because the stamens and pistils from the same tree come out at different times.

 We have not seen bats (Eonycteris spelea)which help pollinate durians flowers for several years now. So how do our durian flowers get pollinated in Miri? That's another thing to find out.

Flowers grow 1 - 45 flowers directly from the trunk or main branch. So if they all become heavy fruits, the branch will break even before the fruits ripen. That would be disastrous for the tree owner.

The flowers are large and are creamy white. Outer part of flowers - fleshy and has 5 fused sepals and 5 petals .The flowers are hermaphrodites (stamen and a pistil in the same flower)

They can't pollinate themselves because the stamens and pistils from the same tree come out at different times.

The flowers are nocturnal bloomers (3 p.m. to midnight)






The pistils with its female stigma come out first (they get pollinated by flowers from other trees)






x,the leaf-like sepals, brown durian flowers and the flower stalks.