5 January 2018 (Friday) – Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) have done the plant inventory for Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve in Kuala Lumpur and the research findings were published in a scientific journal recently.
Botanists conducting flora inventory.
Norzielawati (left) and Imin Kamin collecting specimens.
The forest reserve is the only remaining green lung in the country’s capital city. From 2015 to 2016, FRIM botanical team led by Syazwani Azeman dan Norzielawati Salleh conducted monthly visits to the area to record the flora biodiversity.
The year-long survey found a total of 425 species within the 9.37 ha forest, including 16 species endemic to Peninsular Malaysia. One of the species was the rare Tarenna rudis of the coffee family (Rubiaceae), only found in Selangor. This species was last recorded 88 years ago.
Since this forest has never been harvested, it retains the typical structure of a lowland dipterocarp forest with numerous huge and old trees including 16 Dipterocarpaceae species.
The botanists recorded, among others, Shorea dasyphylla (meranti batu), categorised as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List; as well as Magnolia montana (cempaka hutan), Memecylon campanulatum (nipis kulit), Anisoptera costata (mersawa kesat) and Shorea sumatrana (sengkawang), categorised as Near Threatened. There was only one Shorea sumatrana tree found there.
The findings reveal the significance of this green lung and the importance of ensuring its conservation. Click here for the full report of the flora inventory: https://oneecosystem.pensoft.net/article/13708/instance/3766970/.
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Tarenna rudis, a species endemic to Selangor. |
The only Shorea sumatrana tree found in the forest reserve. |
