The national flower of Malaysia

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis known colloquially as the Chinese hibiscus is an evergreen flowering shrub that is native to East Asia. It is also known as the China rose and the shoe flower.

The flowers are large, generally red in the original varieties, and firm, but generally lack any scent. Numerous varieties, cultivars, and hybrids are available, with flower colors ranging from white through yellow and orange to scarlet and shades of pink, with both single and double sets of petals.

Despite their size and red hues been attractive to nectar-feeding birds, they are not visited regularly by hummingbirds when grown in the Neotropics.

Generalists, like the Sapphire-spangled Emerald, Amazilia lactea, or long-billed species, like the Stripe-breasted Starthroat, Heliomaster squamosus, are occasionally seen to visit it, however. In the subtropical and temperate Americas, hummingbirds are attracted to them on a regular basis.

The Hibisucus rosa-sinensis was discovered and named by Carolus Linnaeus.

National symbol

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is the national flower of Malaysia.

The flower was introduced into the Malay Peninsula in the 12 century and it was nominated as the national flower in the year 1958 by the Ministry of Agriculture amongst a few other flowers, namely ylang ylang, jasmine, lotus, rose, magnolia, and bunga tanjung. On July 28, 1960, it was declared by the government of Malaysia that the hibiscus would be the national flower.

The word bunga in Malay means “flower”, whilst raya in Malay means “big”. The hibiscus is literally known as the “big flower” in Malay.

The red of the petals symbolizes the courage, life, and rapid growth of the Malaysian, and the five petals represent the five Rukun Negara of Malaysia. The flower can be found imprinted on the notes and coins of the Malaysian ringgit.

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is one of many plant genera with a genetic characteristic known as polyploidy, in which the number of chromosomes is far greater than the two we commonly think of with human genetics.

Polyploidy is a condition where the genetic characteristics of the offspring may be quite different from the parent, or indeed any ancestor, essentially allowing possibly random expression of all the characteristics of all the generations that have gone before. Because of this characteristic,

Hibiscus has become popular with hobbyists who cross and re-cross varieties, creating new named varieties and holding competitions to exhibit and judge the many resulting new seedlings and often strikingly unique flowers.

Often the progeny of these crosses are sterile, but some are fertile, further increasing the complexity of variability and the possibility of a virtually unlimited number of eventual Hibiscus rosa-sinensis varieties.

This further attracts the hobbyists, who have created local and international associations, societies, publications, and manuals to further this hobby, which is practiced with these tropical plants worldwide, including indoors in cold climates.

Alliance Pet Insurance
 

Asian Alliance Insurance introduced a pet insurance policy, ‘Alliance Pet Insurance, Deluxe’ in Sri Lanka with a medical and surgical cover for pets in December 2008.

Alliance Pet Insurance - Deluxe policy was designed to address the escalating veterinary expenses, sophisticated medical techniques and mainly to assist the pet owners in raising the living standards of their pets. A pet is a part of his/her owner’s family and they will never compromise the pet’s health and well-being especially at times of sickness and injuries, Asian Alliance believes.

This extended product is designed subsequent to careful analysis and research of the varied customer needs and market trends. Customers now have a choice with the type of pet insurance policy best suited for their pets.

Alliance Pet Insurance - Premier offers better benefits and thereby more value to pet owners such as medical and surgical cover for 21 specified illnesses,

death cover due to accident and sickness, pet goes missing cover third party liability cover. Pets aged 6 months - 7 years are eligible under the Alliance Pet Insurance - Premier policy.

In addition to the above benefits, Deluxe and Premier pet insurance variants offers a free physical examination to the pet, an elegant dog pendent and free weekly health tips as well. A pack of ‘Eukanuba’ dog food, also offered free to all policy holders as a result of the tie up between Alliance Pet Insurance and world renowned Eukanuba Dog food.

“Our aim is to provide the best insurance solutions to our customers at all times, our success has always been driven by understanding our customer needs better and processes and systems which are pivoted on innovation”, the CEO of the Company, Ramal Jasinghe stated.

For the convenience and ease of obtaining the policy, Alliance Pet Insurance is available at leading pet hospitals and clinics. For more details Dilupa can be contacted on 0772440727.

Animal facts:

At least 63% of dog owners admitted to kissing their dogs. Of these, some 45% kissed them on the nose, 19% on the neck, 7% on the back, 5% on the stomach and 2% on the legs.

An additional 29% listed the place they kiss their dog as other!

A frightened dog puts it’s tail between it’s legs because it covers the scent glands in the anal area. Since the anal glands carry personal scents that identify individual dogs, the tail-between the-legs behavior is the canine equivalent of insecure humans hiding their faces.

The top names for female cats are Samantha, Misty, Patches, Cali, Muffin, Angel, Angela, Ginger, Tiger, Tigger, Princess, Punkin and Pumpkin. The most popular names for male cats are Tiger, Tigger, Smokey, Pepper, Max, Maxwell, Simon, Snoopy, Morris, Micky, Rusty, Rusti, Boots and Bootsie.

Myths:

Cat

It is believed that if a black cat crosses your path, satan was playng attention to you.

A black cat is lucky or unlucky,

depending on where you live.

Cats were sacred to the goddess, Isis in Egyptian mythology.

Bast or Pasht, the daughter of Isis, was represented with the face of a cat. Anyone who killed a cat was put to death.

Archaeologists in Egypt found cat cemeteries from which a shipment of embalmed cats was taken to England.

In Egypt it was believed that a black cat crossing

one’s path brought good luck.

In East Anglia, England, they used

to mummify cats and place them in

the walls of their homes to ward off evil spirits.

If a black cat walks towards you, it brings good fortune, but if it walks away, it takes the good luck with it.

Keep cats away from babies because they

“suck the breath” of the child.

A cat onboard a ship is considered to bring luck.