The Tembusu Tree: Singapore's Heritage Tree on the $5 Note

^{A NATIVE HARDWOOD WITH FRAGRANT FLOWERS, AND THE HERITAGE SPECIMEN ON SINGAPORE’S $5 NOTE}

The Tembusu is a native Singaporean tree known for its strongly scented cream flowers, its bitter red berries and a timber so hard that Malay speech uses it as a metaphor for a hard heart. A single specimen in the Singapore Botanic Gardens, estimated to be more than 200 years old and identified by a long, low lateral branch, appears on the reverse of the Portrait Series $5 note. That tree has been a registered Heritage Tree since the scheme began in 2001. The National Parks Board (NParks) recommends the species for roadsides, parks, gardens and reforestation, and it has been planted within the national greening programme that began with Singapore's first nationwide tree-planting campaign in 1963.

^{WHAT IS THE TEMBUSU TREE}

The Tembusu's accepted scientific name is Cyrtophyllum fragrans (Roxb.) DC., and its older name, Fagraea fragrans Roxb., is now treated as a synonym but still appears in many references, including those of the National University of Singapore's Tembusu College. NParks' Flora & Fauna Web places it in the family Gentianaceae; earlier botanical works, including the 1960 Flora Malesiana treatment, classified it within Loganiaceae. The species is native to Singapore and has a natural range from north-east India to South-east Asia. It grows in evergreen and mixed deciduous forest, secondary vegetation, grass fields, open and swampy lowlands, roadsides and beaches, at altitudes up to 800 m. In Singapore it occurs in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, at Kent Ridge and on Pulau Ubin, and its conservation status is listed as Least Concern.

The tree is evergreen and can reach 30 m in height. Its crown is irregular in shape, and the bark is deeply fissured. Mature trees develop buttress roots up to 2.5 m high. The leaves are leathery, elliptic and arranged in opposite pairs, with blades 5 to 13 cm long and 2 to 5.5 cm wide. The Tembusu is slow-growing and long-lived, and NParks notes that it can live for more than a century. NParks lists common names including Tembusu, Common Tembusu, Tembusu Hutan, Tembusu Tembaga, Temusu, Temesu, Tembusu-padang, Anan and Ironwood, and the Chinese name is 香灰莉.

^{FRAGRANT FLOWERS AND BITTER BERRIES}

The flowers are the Tembusu's most noticeable feature, and Heritage Trees of Singapore describes them as strongly fragrant, particularly in the late evenings. They are bisexual, about 2 cm across, borne in clusters of 4 to 12 cm at the leaf axils, and open creamy white before turning yellow with age. Flora & Fauna Web lists the flowers' night-time fragrance among the tree's desirable features. In Singapore the tree flowers in May and June and again in October and November. Pollination is carried out by butterflies and hawk-moths.

The flowers are followed by small fleshy berries, 4.5 to 10 mm across, that ripen from green to orange or red. Fruiting follows the flowering cycle, in June and July and again in November and December. Bats and birds disperse the seeds, and Flora & Fauna Web names the fruit bats Pteropus edulis and Cynopterus species among them. NParks records that the Malayan Flying Fox (Pteropus vampyrus) once fed on Tembusu berries in season, at a time when the bats were more numerous in Singapore. Apart from bats and birds, most animals find the berries too bitter to eat.

^{WHY TEMBUSU WOOD IS SO HARD}

Tembusu timber is strong, durable and resistant to termites. Heritage Trees of Singapore records that it was well suited to heavy construction, bridges and carving, and NParks' Flora & Fauna Web lists bridges, boats and panelling among its uses. Some hawkers' chopping boards are made from it, and one of the tree's recorded common names is Ironwood. The wood is hard enough that a Malay metaphor compares it to a hard heart.

The tree also has a record of medicinal use. A decoction of the bark has been used to treat fever and dysentery, and a decoction of leaves and twigs has been used for severe diarrhoea. For landscape use, NParks lists qualities that suit an urban environment: the Tembusu tolerates waterlogged soils, is usually resistant to pests and diseases, and is propagated from seed. It is recommended for roadsides, parks, gardens, riverine areas and reforestation, and it is planted along roads and in gardens for its shade, its fragrant flowers and the birds and bats its berries attract.

^{THE BOTANIC GARDENS TEMBUSU AND THE $5 NOTE}

The best-known Tembusu in Singapore stands on Lawn E of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, near Swan Lake in the Tanglin Core. It is registered as Heritage Tree HT 2001-26. In 2014 its age was estimated at more than 200 years, and NParks records a girth of 5 m measured at 1.6 m above ground and a height of 20 m. Its defining feature is a long lower lateral branch, which makes it easy to recognise, and generations of visitors have photographed themselves beside it. The Gardens protect a vista that runs from the tree across the lawns to the lake.

The tree is shown on the back of the Portrait Series $5 note, and the Heritage Trees programme describes it as an iconic Tembusu Heritage Tree. The Gardens describe it as a symbol of the passage of time and of their own evolution. The Singapore Botanic Gardens were founded in 1859 and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015 as an example of a British tropical colonial botanic garden that developed into a scientific institution for conservation and education. UNESCO's listing records 44 Heritage Trees within the property.

^{THE HERITAGE TREE SCHEME}

NParks launched the Heritage Tree Scheme on 17 August 2001 to identify, recognise and conserve mature trees in Singapore's landscape, a task it describes as increasingly important given the pace of development. A Heritage Tree is typically more than 5 m in girth and is noted for botanical, historical, social, cultural or aesthetic value. Trees can be put forward for assessment through a community nomination scheme. Conservation measures include lightning conductors and interpretive signage, and a Heritage Trees Fund was set up with a seed donation of $125,000 from HSBC to support the programme. The Heritage Tree Register listed 248 trees as of 9 October 2026.

Seven Tembusu entries appear on the register. Apart from the Botanic Gardens tree, they include three trees at Lagos Circle off Admiralty Road East, one at Maida Vale, one on Sentosa and one on Saint John's Island. The tree registered as HT 2003-54 near Admiralty Road East had a girth of 5 m when it was measured in 2003; it now measures 6.11 m in girth and 30.2 m in height. The Saint John's Island tree has a girth of 5.07 m and a height of 28.8 m.

^{THE TEMBUSU IN SINGAPORE’S GARDEN CITY}

According to NParks, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew launched Singapore's first nationwide tree-planting campaign in 1963, which began the country's greening movement. In 1967 the Public Works Department set up a specialist Parks and Trees Unit, in 1970 a Garden City Action Committee was formed to guide island-wide greening policy, and in 1971 the annual Tree Planting Day began, held in the first week of November. When the Parks and Recreation Department was created in 1975, the Singapore Botanic Gardens provided expertise and plant material for its greening programmes. The National Parks Board itself was established in 1990 as a statutory board to manage national parks and nature reserves.

The policy has since been revised twice. In 2011 NParks moved its mission from creating a Garden City to creating a City in a Garden, and under the Singapore Green Plan 2030 the aim is now a City in Nature. That plan aims to make every road in Singapore a Nature Way, with 300 km of Nature Ways by 2030, to add a further 500 km of park connectors so that every household is within a short walk of a park, to build a network of ecological corridors linking nature reserves and parks with neighbourhood gardens, and to plant at least 170,000 more trees in industrial estates by 2030.

^{FROM HERITAGE TREE TO DINING ROOM: EMBU AT MANDARIN ORIENTAL, SINGAPORE}

Embu is the all-day dining restaurant on Level 3 of Mandarin Oriental, Singapore, completed in September 2023 and designed by Silverfox Studios, with the project led by Susan Heng and Patrick Waring. The restaurant takes its name and its design direction from the Tembusu, the native heritage tree known for its fragrant flowers and sturdy wood. The interior extends Singapore's Garden City vision into the restaurant around three themes: canopy, botanical planting, and pavilions and greenhouses.

The Tembusu itself is echoed in the joinery, where curved, louvred timber canopies and stylised timber framing reflect the tree's perpendicular branching. The floors are laid with Peranakan black-and-white porcelain tiles, and open-weave rattan is used alongside the timber.

SOURCES

1. National Parks Board, Heritage Trees of Singapore Tembusu, HT 2001-26
2. National Parks Board, Heritage Trees of Singapore Tembusu, HT 2003-54
3. National Parks Board, Heritage Trees of Singapore About Heritage Trees
4. National Parks Board, Heritage Trees of Singapore Heritage Tree Register
5. National Parks Board, Flora & Fauna Web Cyrtophyllum fragrans (Roxb.) DC.
6. Singapore Botanic Gardens Heritage Trees and Landscapes
7. UNESCO World Heritage Centre Singapore Botanic Gardens
8. National Parks Board Mission and History
9. National Parks Board City in Nature
10. Tembusu College, National University of Singapore History