Pogostemon heyneanus "Patchouli, In Malay, it is known as Pokok Nilam.
This fragrant herb from India is famous for its use in perfumery. When you rub the leaves, they emit an exotic incense. Pluck some leaves, rub them, then soak the keaves into a basin of water. Rinse the clothes after washing. It produces a fragrant smell.
It grows well in the humid soil.
The Foetid Passion Flower or Stinking Passion Flower (Passiflora foetida), also known as the Wild Maracuja or Running Pop
In Malay, it is known as pokok letup-letup
- is a creeping vine which has an edible fruit and leaves that have a mildly rank aroma. It is native to northern South America and the West Indies; it can also be found in South East Asian countries like Vietnam and on Hawaii.
The stems are thin, wiry and woody, covered with sticky yellow hairs. The leaves are three- to five-lobed and viscid-hairy. They give off an unpleasant odour when crushed. The flowers are white to pale cream coloured, about 5-6 cm diameter. The fruit is globose, 2-3 cm diameter, yellowish-orange to red when ripe, and has numerous black seeds embedded in the pulp; the fruit are eaten and the seeds dispersed by birds.
The bracts of this plant serve as insect traps, but it is as yet unknown whether the plant digests and gains nourishment from the trapped insects or if it merely uses the bracts as a defensive mechanism to protect its flowers and fruit. This is still an issue of debate and research among carnivorous plant enthusiasts.
This passion flower tolerates arid ground, but favours wet areas. It is known to be an invasive species in some areas.
Uses
The fruits are kumquat sized with a thin, scarlet red shell surrounding a blush-white pulp, mildly sweet, delicately flavored. Young leaves and plant tips are edible. Dry leaves are used in tea in Vietnamese folk medicine to relieve sleeping problems.
TO KNOW OUR FRUITS/PLANTS 7 
BILIMBI
In Malay, it is known as belimbing asam or belimbing buluh.
A native plant of Malaysia. It usually grows up to 10 metres tall. Commonly grown in the villages. The plant bears fruit all year round especially during the dry parts of the year.
The fruits are cylindrical in or slightly 5 angled in shape. The fruits are green to yellowish when ripe, soft and fleshy. They are juicy but taste sour. They eaten as pickles or cooked seoning or curries. It can be made as candies and jams.
CARAMBOLA, STARFRUIT
In Malay it is known as Belimbing Manis. A popular fruit trees which grows up to 10 metres high with many branches. The flowers are panicles on the twigs by the leaves all year round. The tiny lilac flowers are beautiful.
The corss-section of the fruit are star-shapped, that is why it is known as starfruit. It has a shiny, smooth and waxy surface.
The sweet friuts can be eaten as dessert, the sour ones are made into jelly, jam or juice. The fruits are rich in vitamin C
Early on the morning of the wedding day, the groom’s party will come to the bride’s house in long boats which are decorated with beautiful pua kumbu (woven blankets) and flags. As they paddle along the river, the musicians perform the gendang with gongs and drums. The maidens and bachelors are in traditional costumes while men and women wear ordinary suits, kain batik and baju kebaya or baju kurong respectively. As their boats approach the bride’s landing place a gun is fired once or three times as a sign of their arrival. On hearing this, the hosts fire their guns as a sign of welcome. After the boats have landed, the guests are received by the Tuai Rumah and his companions at an open space (menalan) with offerings in case the guests have heard unfavorable omens as they paddled along the river. From the menalan a procession is formed for the guests to enter the bride’s longhouse. This procession is led by the Tuai Rumah who carries a flag. He is followed by a man who carries a plate of offerings and a woman who throws popped rice (letup) along the route of the procession. Behind the elder woman are the maidens in their traditional dress consisting of kain pandak (short skirt), tumpa pirak (silver bracelets), rawai (corset), lampit (girdles), sabit (silver or brass chains), sugu tinggi (tall combs) decorated with coloured metal ornaments (ensuga) on the top of the tiara, silver necklaces (tenggak pirak), and they carry small silver boxes called buah pauh in their hands. Behind these girls are the bachelors wearing loin clothes (sirat), head gear decorated with hornbill feathers, silver bracelets and ivory armlets on their arms, and swords the scabbards of which are decorated with beads and hornbill feathers are carried at their side. In the rear are the musicians who play the gendang with gongs and drums. As they enter the house they are offered arak or tuak wine by the young men and maidens at each family’s lower gallery along the procession route. As the procession reaches the end of the house it turns round and finally stops at the bride’s family gallery, where the leading guests are asked by the representatives of the bride’s parents to open the door of the bride’s room with words of praise. After the opening of the door, the male guests are asked to take their seats along the upper and lower galleries facing the bride’s family bilek and along the galleries at both sides. The women guests sit in the bride’s family bilek. After all the guests have been received with tuak wine or arak and food, they are invited to change their seats. The hosts invite them to sit at their individual section of the gallery where they are served with drinks of various kinds. At noon a midday meal is served along the lower gallery. Sometime after the meal is over, the bride’s parents gather all the people to their gallery to witness the Melah Pinang ceremony. At the opening of the ceremony a representative of the bride’s family stands up and informs his audience that the bridal parents have agreed that the bridegroom and the bride are to be wed according to the custom of the Iban. At this wedding he begs the Penghulu, Tuai Rumah and all other senior guests to witness the payment of the bride wealth and other articles, as well as witness the agreements made between the two families for the union of their children as follows: 1. If the bridegroom divorces his spouse because she commits adultery, is quarrelsome or otherwise has a bad character, the woman’s family must refund the bride wealth and the gun and gong. In addition to these they must pay the groom $ 150 if the amount of the bride price was $300, which is an additional one-half of the total amount of the bride wealth. 2. If the bride divorces her husband due to his bad character as mentioned in (a) above, the groom will lose all of the bride wealth and other articles. As soon as the bride wealth has been paid and the marriage agreement has been made public, a senior woman, preferably the bride’s mother or her aunt, will bring out from the family room areca-nut in a small finely-made, carrying basket called a selok to the middle of the lower gallery (ruai). There she is surrounded by the elderly women and male bards, if any are present. As she sits there, she cuts the areca-nuts into three, five or seven pieces in the presence of the groom’s and bride’s relatives. The number depends on the distance separating the bride’s and groom’s community; the greater the distance the more the number. When this is done, the pieces of areca-nut are put in the selok basket and covered by a beautiful woven blanket. As the selok is lying under the pua kumbu cover, a bard sings a song and pretends to nurse a child. In his song, he prays that in the future the child will become a well-to-do man or a brave warrior. As he sings on and on, he pretends that the child is sleeping. So he stops his song. A few minutes later another bard sings a song to wake the child up again. He relates that while the child was sleeping it dreamed of meeting the deity of wealth and good fortune, Anda Mara, and the goddesses Kumang and Lulong, the wives of Keling and Laja of the Panggau Libau spiritual world, who gave it charms which can make it wealthy and brave in war. He further says that in time to come the child will become a famous leader of men in many adventures all over the countries round about. A similar dream is related for girls. This enacted dream song reflects the importance attributed by the Iban to dreams as a source of prophesy and divine benefaction, and, of course, is intended here to bring good fortune and success to the future children of the newly married couple. During the melah pinang ceremony, the guests are served with wine, coffee and delicious food including bread and cakes. As soon as the bards have finished singing their songs of nindok ke anak and ngerak anak, the guests are asked to sit in a long row along the upper and lower galleries. After the seating of the guests has been arranged, the hosts serve them a midday meal. After the meal is over, if the marriage is incestuous, the guests and hosts, led by the Penghulu and other leaders who officiate the besapat ka ai bathing ceremony, proceed to the river to cleanse the bridal couple of their sin. A description of this ceremony was given earlier in the section on “Marriage and Incest” (cf. pp 28-29). As soon as the bathing ceremony of the bridal couple is over, the bridegroom, his parents and other guests return to their house with the bride in her traditional dress. Seated near her in the bridegroom’s boat is a bride’s maid from the bride’s own longhouse. Also near them are the girls of the bridegroom’s house who have come with the groom to the bride’s house that morning. As the boats are paddled by men along the river, the musicians begin to play gongs and drums and the music continues till they reach their pengkalan (landing place). Shortly after the bridegroom and others have left for the bride’s house in the morning, a number of women who could not join them decorate the bridegroom’s family room (bilek) by spreading good mats on the floors and displaying the pua kumbu blankets from a cord along the walls of the room. When the bride arrives in the evening, she is led by a procession of maidens (who return from her house) to the bridegroom’s house. As she enters the building, she is cordially invited to stay for an hour or two with her bridesmaid in the room of bridegroom’s closest relatives. Here they are served with soft drinks and other refreshments. Sometime after this, the bridegroom’s mother comes to fetch the bride to her room. The latter and her bridesmaid follow her. As she arrives at her spouse’s family room, she is asked by her mother-in-law to sit on the best tikai bebuah mats which have been specially spread for her. As she sits a number of girls of her age from other family rooms in the longhouse, come to talk to her. In the evening, after she has changed her dress, a dinner is served in the family room and the family eats together. After the evening meal is over, the bridegroom’s father calls for all the people of the longhouse to come to his family room to attend the bebiau ceremony, when the newly married couples are waved with a chicken by a shaman (manang) or a bard (lemambang). After all the people have arrived, a few young men serve everyone with wine. While the people are still drinking wine, the bridegroom dresses himself on the gallery outside, while the bride dresses herself somewhere out of people’s sight in the room. When the bride and the bridegroom have finished dressing themselves, four tawak gongs are placed side by side along the upper room (bilek atas). These gongs are carefully covered by carpets or pua kumbu blankets. Eventually the bride and her bridesmaid rejoin those who have gathered. They are seated close to each other on the two tawak gongs. Shortly afterwards comes the bridegroom who is attended by his closest bachelor friend who acts as his best man. The former sits close to the bride, while his best man sits close to him. As they sit here, a shaman stands up holding a chicken in his hands.
Read more on this at:http://gnmawar.wordpress.com/adat-iban/part-1-iban-adat-law-and-custom/
