Mt. Kinabalu
Kinabalu Network
Sabah Tourism
- Mt. Kinabalu - infoSabah
A Guide to Mount
Kinabalu Summit Trail
Mt.Kinabalu
Mt. Kinabalu is the highest peak ( 4,101m ) in Southeast Asia and is
known for its well preserved complete spectrum of plant life, which embraces
tropical lowland rainforest, tropical mountain forest, tropical moss forest
and tropical alpine vegetation all packaged in one locality. In each vegetation,
incredible biodiversity or species rich forest were observed and over half
of the species growing above 900 meters are said to be endemic.
At elevation lower than ca. 900 m elevation, hot climate and an average
annual rainfall of 2500 mm favors tropical lowland rainforest with its
its huge Dipterocarpus trees and biodiversity with various foliage levels
under the top canopy. Between 900 m and 1,800 m elevation cooler temperature,
the better light penetration and higher moisture produce denser ground
cover and an abundance of epiphytes such as orchids and mosses growing
on tree trunks than the lowland forest. At 1,588m ( Park headquarters ),
daily temperature varies from 20 C to 13 C at night.
Tropical moss forests started at a distinctively cold 1,800 m elevation
where the annual rainfall hit 4570 mm and thick mosses, lichens, orchids
were found hugging to stunted tree trunks. As a matter of fact, It was
difficult to find a tree without any epiphytic orchids. Several Rhododendron
and Nepenthes
( Pitcher plant ) also grew
wild attracting the interest of the horticulturists. Beyond the moss forest,
under extreme temperature, violent winds and driving sleets at the summit
zone, there exist tropical alpine forest with low diversity plant life.
Genting Highlands
Genting Highlands is situated 50 km from Kuala Lumpur. The Highlands
has grown to become a biggest highland resort. After 1969, it has also
become the main recreation center in Malaysia, which attracts not only
the casino players but also the people who want to escape from the hot
and humid lowlands, because at 1,711 meters above sea level, the air is
cool and invigorating. The weather is generally very cool whereas in the
evening it can get misty all year round.
Spathoglottis plicata
Table 1 is a summary of the conditions of the quadrats showing the
habitats in which the Spathoglottis were found. In both locations, the
species were found in open spaces with high light intensity ( 90 Klux )
generally on the slopes formed by road construction in the mountainous
area. In Malaysia, even Spa. plicata grew wild at high elevation, but generally
not higher than ca. 1,500 m. In Iriomote Island, Japan, Spa. plicata was
found in the lowland at about 60 or 240 m above sea level. In the lowland
of Malaysia, encroachment of industrial development as well as large-scale
plantations have minimized the natural habitats for Spa. plicata.
In Iriomote Island, Spa. plicata was frequently found growing among
two other species sharing similar habitat, Dicranopteris, a semi-climber
fern, and Arundina, a tall grass terrestrial orchid with Cattleya-like
flowers. In Genting Highlands, both of these species looked stronger and
bigger ( about 2 m ) than those in Japan and seemed to dominate the places
where Spa. plicata had grown.
The quadrat, Myg-1, is the road-side shoulder at 1170 m elevation in
Genting Highlands next to the dense Dicranopteris and Arundina grassland
where Spa. plicata was not found. There was one Spa. plicata plant recovering
from the damage of the shading by removing the canopy of the tall grasses
but in return the mowing also severely damaged the plant. The open spaces
consisted of short grassland of Imperata cylindrica which was most dominant,
Mimosa pudica, Cyperus spp. ( Table 2 and Fig. 2 ) and Ipomea cairica surrounded
by Cyathea and Ficus undergrowth (data not shown ).
The quadrat, Myg-2, was a cut-slope of a road at 830 m elevation where
vigorous Spa. plicata were found growing. They were blooming flowers, bearing
seed pods and dispersing seeds simultaneously. It seemed that Spa. plicata
was more competitive against Emilia sonchifolia, Crassocephalum ciepidioides
although some climbering plants such as Mikania micrantha were seen to
be shading them ( Table 3 and Fig. 3 ). However, the tall competing species
such as Dicranopteris and Arundina or woody plants had not established
at the place yet.
In the island of Borneo, the quadrat, Myk-1, was located at 1475 m
elevation along a road to Mt. Kinabalu. At this location, Spa. plicata
survived among Arundina graminifolia grassland ( Table 4 and Fig. 4 ).
The habitat was too humid for other weed species to grow except for three
small fern species and Imperata cylindrica. The A. graminifolia there was
seen bigger ( 2.5 m ) than those in the Peninsular and in Iriomote Island
although rather scattered in existence. It seemed that Spa. plicata plants
had enough sun for normal growth and development. This observation tends
to imply that Spa. plicata had survival strategies making it a leading
plant species in succession ; 1) It invades the open spaces formed by development
such as road construction or natural disaster such as landslide ; 2) It
is taken over by taller shrubs, woody plants or even grasses depriving
it from direct sunshine ; 3) It easily sets seed pods ( capsules ) by self-pollination
( data not shown ) bearing thousands of minute winged seeds that move to
new habitats. Teoh ( 1989 ) also reported that Spa. plicata seeds were
recovered after thirteen years after the famous eruption ( 1883 ) of Mt.
Krakatoa, Indonesia, which destroyed every flora on the island. Unlike
other orchid species, Spa. plicata spreads its distribution along with
land development, especially road construction. While the cultivation of
Spa. plicata is fairly easy. Being an attractive species, the Spa. plicata
becomes easily vulnerable to collection by plant collectors for horticultural
purposes. Comparing with Iriomote Island, one of the Japanese National
Park, the lowland of the Peninsular Malaysia is much developed, making
Spa. plicata more endangered.
Spathoglottis aurea Lindl. and Spa. microchilina Kraenzl.
In the survey, the authors found two other Spathoglottis species in
the Malay Peninsular and Borneo, both of which bear golden yellow flowers.
The distributions of the two species did not overlap with Spa. plicata.
They were found growing wild at elevation higher than 1,500 m above sea
level. Generally the temperate, higher than 1,500 m above sea level, is
too low for the tropical lowland plants and the flora of the two locations
were quite different from each other.
Spathoglottis aurea Lindl. was also found growing in the Myg-3 on a
road-cut slope ( 1,540 m ) to the Genting Highlands ( Table 5 and Fig.
5 ). It grew with Nepenthes spp. Sphenomeris chinensis and some other herbaceous
species. It seemed to grow in avoidance to competition with Dicranopteris
linearis. However, no Spa. aurea was found near the top of the Genting
Highlands, whereas some Spa. aurea plants were found on the top of Fraster's
Hill, at 1,524 m above sea level, which located 100 km north of Kuala Lumpur,
though quadrat survey was not carried out there. Genting Highlands seemed
to be too developed as a mountain resort or recreation center to survive
the species.
Spathoglottis microchilina Kraenzl. was found In the quadrat, Myk-2
( 1570 m ), in the island of Borneo, where the headquarters of Mt. Kinabalu
is located near by. In this location, Spa. microchilina grew with two other
terrestrial orchid species, Arundina graminifolia and Calanthe triplicata,
as well as some ferns such as Lycopodium complanata and grasses such as
Cruculigo latifolia ( Table 6 and Fig. 6 ). The survey found that the habitat
for Spathoglottis is very limited especially in the tropical forest like
in Borneo although development processes such as road construction prepare
new habitats for the Spathoglottis. However, the species seemed to be endangered
by both weeding and competition with other plant species even though Mt.
Kinabalu itself is well conserved from the horticultural collection.
Although certain climatic conditions of the temperate zone are somewhat
similar to those of the corresponding elevation of the lower latitude,
the climate of tropical highland is entirely different from that of subtropical
lowland. In tropical highland, climatic conditions throughout the year
are not very hot or very cold. Therefore, the plants from the tropical
highlands are generally very difficult to survive as they are not tolerant
to cold and heat conditions even similar to the winter or summer time of
the Temperate Zone. These two Spathoglottis species are also said to be
very difficult to grow in the tropical lowland.
The authors have been working on the breeding and in vitro propagation
for a long time and realized that the micropropagation technique is also
useful for the conservation of the wild orchid species. However, special
attention must be made not to disturb the natural condition when the artificially
propagated orchids are released ( Tanaka and Mizutani 1995, 1996 ). Research
in this aspect is needed not only to find the germplasms ( Uesato et al.
1981 ) for the breeding of the ornamental orchid cultivars but at the same
time formulate for the conservation of the wild orchid species.