Sunday, December 20, 2009

Flora of Gunung Jagoi 09.12.19

Here are some of the interesting plants we saw on our visit to Gunung or Mount Jagoi. Also see (clickable links):
1. Gunung Jagoi main post
2. Flora of Gunung Jagoi (this one)
3. Local fruits at Gunung Jagoi
4. Abandoned Summit Village at Gunung Jagoi


Amorphophallus_species_1
A young and small Amorphophallus species with reddish leaflets. This structure is considered a single leaf with the leaflets spreading out at the top (think papaya leaf). Looks like it is top-heavy and all bent.

Amorphophallus_species_2
Quite striking colors! The color without flash is a lot nicer and more accurate but it was too dark under the forest canopy to get a good picture without flash.

Bromheadia_finlaysonianum
Bromheadia finlaysoniana, a common kerangas ground orchid. They are also found growing in disturbed areas along road sides with sandy soil.

Bulbophyllum_cleistogamum_03
Bulbophyllum cleistogamum.

Bulbophyllum_cleistogamum_09
Bulbophyllum cleistogamum. I was very lucky to find one clump in flower, a fresh and new bloom too!

Bulbophyllum_cleistogamum_10
Seed pod. Seems like Bulbophyllum cleistogamum is self-pollinating as all of the flowers on my own plants always turn into seed pods.

Bulbophyllum_cleistogamum_12
An unopened bud on another Bulbophyllum cleistogamum clump.

Bulbophyllum_cleistogamum_13
A small colony of Bulbophyllum cleistogamum growing on a broken trunk. I hope these stay here undisturbed.

Claderia_species_1
I have never seen this species of Claderia in flower before. This one is putting out what looks like a spike with some under-developed buds.

Claderia_species_16
More Claderia species. Quite abundant in some places. None were in flower unfortunately.

Dipterocarp_winged_fruits_1
There were many winged fruits that littered the ground all along the trail. They are the fruits of Dipterocarp trees. These were the largest Dipterocarp tree fruits that we came across. They were about 15-20cm in length. Dipterocarp trees are also called “emergent” species because they are huge and tall trees with crowns emerging high above those of other trees in the forest. This gives the effect of an uneven canopy.

Dipterocarp_winged_fruits_2
It’s been a while since they were sent spiralling down from the tree tops. The green structure coming out of the fruit is probably the radical.

Dipterocarp_winged_fruits_7
Winged fruits of two different Dipterocarp tree species. Dipterocarp means “two-winged fruits” but as you can see from the above photo, some species have more than two wings! In the Kuching area, Dipterocarps are most prominent in the mixed-Dipterocarp forests of Kubah National Park and the Santubong Peninsula.

Dipterocarp_winged_fruits_9
A fresh one! The round fruit is quite large, about the size of a large lime. Many Dipterocarp trees are highly valued for their hard wood such as kapur (Drybalanops spp.), keruing (Dipterocarpus spp.), meranti (Shorea spp.) and selangan batu (Shorea spp.). Meranti for example, is often used for building houses, posts, roof structures etc. Kapur and selangan batu also have many uses in the local house-building industry such as for making window and door frames etc.

Dipterocarp_winged_fruits_12
Another winged fruit of a different species.

Ginger_flower
This is the flower of a wild species of ginger. Some people eat the unopened flower.

Gunung_Jagoi_summit_trek_13
Diplocaulobium species. For the flower, search my Flickr.

Gunung_Jagoi_summit_trek_14
A tree trunk full of Bulbophyllum purpurascens.

hair_grass_2
Hairgrass, a common species in opened, exposed areas with sandy soil.

Kampung_Bung_Jagoi_4_1
Large old trees such as this one play host to a multitude of epiphytes, insects and other flora and fauna. It’s like a little eco-system! Would be very interesting to comb through and study what lives on such old trees.

Kampung_Bung_Jagoi_5
Tree trunk totally covered with Coelogyne foerstermannii.

Peristylus_orchid_species_2
A small species of terrestrial orchid, Peristylus species.

Peristylus_orchid_species_6
The flowers are very small, less than 1cm across. Peristylus sp.

Peristylus_orchid_species_8
The plant habit and leaves. It grows from an underground tuber buried in the sandy soil.

Sun_fern_1
Sun ferns (Dipteris conjugata) are another common occurrence in the summit area of many of Kuching’s mountains.

Sun_fern_2
Dipteris conjugata are also known as sun ferns because of the shape of the leaves.

Sun_fern_3
A new sun! New Dipteris conjugata leaf just opening up.

Tacca_bat_flower
A very large Tacca or bat-flower plant. Pity there was no flower.

Unidentified_fungus_1
Very curious looking structures arising from the thick layer of humus on the cushy ground.

Unidentified_fungus_2
Another photo of the peculiar structures, this time with flash. I think they’re some kind of fungus. They are soft and easily break apart.

For many more photos, please visit my Flickr photoset (click here).

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