A Malay garden. With botanical determinations. R.E. Holttum
A.W. Hamilton, with botanical determinations by R.E. Holttum, published this concise glossary in 1933 documenting Malay vernacular names for cultivated ornamental plants across the Straits Settlements and Malay states. The article serves as a taxonomic-linguistic catalogue that reveals the extraordinary cosmopolitan character of the traditional Malay garden, drawing on flora from Brazil, Africa, the Americas, New Guinea, China, and India.
Summary
The article is structured as a series of entries, each pairing one or more Malay names (distinguished by regional variant: Kedah, Singapore, Penang, Malacca) with the botanical Latin name, family, and a brief note on etymology, geographic origin, or cultural use. Hamilton’s primary concern is to record the Malay nomenclature for garden plants before it is lost, while Holttum’s determinations provide the scientific backbone. The entries collectively demonstrate that the Malay ornamental garden was not a closed indigenous system but a highly syncretic assemblage in which locally named plants of foreign origin had been fully naturalised into Malay cultural practice.
A recurring theme is the Chinese linguistic imprint on Malay plant names. Several entries explicitly trace Malay names to Chinese sources: Kekwa (chrysanthemum) from Kek Hoa, Kimbong (balsam) from Kim Hong, Goyap (pink) from go hiap, and Kengwa (night-blooming cereus) from Keng Hoa. This points to sustained horticultural exchange between Chinese and Malay communities in the Straits Settlements. Equally notable is the presence of plants of American and African origin—Epiphyllum oxypetalum (Brazil), Aloe and Agave (Africa and America respectively), Antigonon leptopus (tropical America), Bixa orellana (tropical America)—all bearing Malay names and integrated into local garden practice, suggesting centuries of maritime botanical diffusion.
The cultural notes embedded in the entries document specific practices: the use of Kelang (Clitoria ternatea) flowers as a blue dye for sweetmeats, Kesumba (Bixa orellana) seed-coats as a red dye, Kenanga (Cananga odorata) petals for scenting hair and bedding, Kēmuning (Murraya exotica) wood for keris handles, and Ulam Raja (Cosmos caudatus) leaves eaten in salad. The article also records folk beliefs, such as the claim that Jeremin (scented geranium) will wither if touched by a menstruating woman.
Key Findings
- The Malay ornamental garden incorporated plants of at least seven distinct geographic origins: Brazil (Epiphyllum oxypetalum), Africa (Aloe), the Americas (Agave, Antigonon leptopus, Bixa orellana), New Guinea (Acalypha Sanderi), China (Gardenia florida), India (Ervatamia coronaria, Vallaris pergularia), and tropical America (Canna edulis) (pp. 139–143).
- At least four Malay plant names are explicitly derived from Chinese: Kekwa from Kek Hoa, Kimbong from Kim Hong, Goyap from go hiap, and Kengwa from Keng Hoa (pp. 139–143).
- Kēmuning (Murraya exotica) wood was used to make the finest keris handles, linking ornamental horticulture to the martial arts tradition (p. 142).
- Kelang (Clitoria ternatea) flowers yielded a blue dye used for colouring sweetmeats, and Kesumba (Bixa orellana) seed-coats yielded a red dye, documenting a local dyeing practice based on garden plants (pp. 139, 142).
- Kenanga (Cananga odorata) was the source of the perfume ilang-ilang, and its yellow-green petals were used by Malay women to scent hair or bedding (p. 142).
- Regional naming variation was systematic: the same plant bore distinct names in Kedah (K), Singapore (S), Penang (P), and Malacca (M), as with Chempa/Chempaka (champaca), Telukis/Goyap (pink), and Rompok/Melor jawa (Clerodendron fragrans) (pp. 139–141).
Conclusion
Hamilton and Holttum’s glossary, though modest in scope, provides a valuable snapshot of the Malay ornamental garden as a living repository of botanical and linguistic history. Its central implication is that the Malay garden was a product of sustained maritime and commercial exchange rather than indigenous cultivation alone, and that the vernacular names themselves encode a history of Chinese, Indian, and European botanical introductions that had been fully absorbed into Malay cultural life by the early twentieth century.
Context
- Hamilton was a colonial-era botanist and author active in the Straits Settlements; the article reflects the administrative and scholarly interest of the MBRAS in documenting indigenous knowledge systems before they were displaced by modernisation.
- The regional key (K, S, P, M) indicates the author’s working across multiple jurisdictions of the Straits Settlements and Malay states, consistent with the MBRAS’s geographic remit.