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FIELD GUIDE TO THE PLANTS OF EAST SABAH
The 84 most commonly encountered families of seed plants are presented alphabetically. Key
field characters, more detailed scientific descriptions, colour photographs and information on
the distinguishing features of similar families make it possible to identify the vast majority of
plants to family level. The distinguishing features of key genera found in East Sabah are also
described for each family, and a provisional checklist of all species known from the Danum
Valley, Imbak Canyon and Maliau Basin is included.
This user friendly introduction to the fascinating flora of East Sabah provides an invaluable
identification tool for use in both the field and the herbarium.
Rogier de Kok is leader of the South-East Asia team at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He
has carried out extensive fieldwork in the region, particularly in Borneo. Rogier’s current
research interests focus on the woody labiates of the region.
PLANTS OF
EAST SABAH
R. P. J. de Kok and T. M. A. Utteridge
Visitors, scientists and conservation workers alike continue to be astounded by the floral
diversity of the lowland rainforests of East Sabah. Now, leading botanists from the Royal
Botanic Gardens, Kew have produced the first field guide for this newly explored region
of Malaysian Borneo.
FIELD GUIDE TO THE
Timothy Utteridge is a senior botanist at Kew who has travelled extensively throughout
South-East Asia. Tim completed his doctorate on the flora of the Philippines and has subsequently become a leading expert in the floras of New Guinea and Borneo.
www.kewbooks.com
R. P. J. de Kok and T. M. A. Utteridge
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FIELD GUIDE TO THE
PLANTS OF
EAST SABAH
R. P. J. de Kok and T. M. A. Utteridge
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© The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 2010
Photographs © the photographers as stated in the captions
The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without written permission of the publisher unless in accordance with the provisions
of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Great care has been taken to maintain the accuracy of the information contained in this work.
However, neither the publisher nor the authors can be held responsible for any consequences
arising from use of the information contained herein.
First published in 2010 by
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AB, UK
www.kew.org
ISBN 978 1 84246 378 9
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Production editor: Sharon Whitehead
Typesetting and page layout: Margaret Newman
Publishing, Design & Photography
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Cover design: Margaret Newman
Front cover photograph: Maliau Basin, Sabah (© Andrew McRobb/RBG Kew)
Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by Henry Ling Ltd
For information or to purchase all Kew titles please visit
www.kewbooks.com or email [email protected]
Kew’s mission is to inspire and deliver science-based plant conservation worldwide, enhancing
the quality of life.
All proceeds go to support Kew’s work in saving the world’s plants for life.
Mixed Sources
Product group from well-managed
forests and other controlled sources
www.fsc.org Cert no. SA-COC-001860
© 1996 Forest Stewardship Council
The paper used in this book contains wood from
well-managed forests, certified in accordance with the
strict environmental, social and economic standards
of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
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Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Map of Sabah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Resources for use with this book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Families (listed A–Z) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Provisional checklist for Danum Valley, Maliau Basin and Imbak Canyon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
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Plants of East Sabah
Introduction
The production of this field guide and checklist was part of a UK government, Darwin Initiative
sponsored project ‘Assessing and conserving plant diversity in commercially managed tropical
rainforests’. This project was a joint initiative between the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Yayasan
Sabah and the Royal Society’s South East Asia Rainforest Research Programme, and was assisted by
the Forest Research Centre Herbarium of the Sabah Forestry Department.
In this guide, the 84 most commonly encountered families in the lowland rainforest of Danum
Valley, Maliau Basin, Imbak Canyon and the areas in between (see Map 1) are described. The
selection of plant families for inclusion in this field guide was based mainly on the number of
specimens from the area in the database held at the herbarium of the Sabah Forestry Department,
Sandakan in early 2009.
The field characters described in this book should make it possible to identify the vast majority of
specimens to family level. A more detailed description of each family is also provided as a backup.
Families with which each described family are most usually confused are listed alongside the key
characters that distinguish them. In almost all cases, genera within the described family are listed
(sometimes all genera, more usually the more common ones in East Sabah) together with some of
their distinguishing characteristics.
Map 1. Sabah
Opposite: © T. Utteridge
Introduction
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Plants of East Sabah
Asclepiadaceae
Field characters:
Climbers or lianas; usually with milky sap;
leaves opposite, simple, margins entire; ovary
superior; fruit two follicles, seeds many.
Description:
Habit Climbers, epiphytes herbs or lianas.
Sap usually present, white.
Stipules absent.
Leaves opposite, simple, margins entire,
usually with a tuft of trichomes at the base.
Flowers corolla with appendages forming a
corona; stamens 5, united with the style.
Ovary superior, two free carpels united by
the style.
Fruit two follicles; seeds many, often hairy
or flattened.
Apocynaceae
Trees, shrubs or lianas; corolla usually large,
corona absent; stamens not united with style.
Lamiaceae
Herbs to trees, rarely lianas, sap absent; flowers
with 2 or 4 free stamens; fruit drupe-like, 1–4
locular.
Rubiaceae
Herbs to trees, rarely lianas, sap absent;
stipules present, interpetiolar; ovary inferior.
Hoya flowers
© J. Gregson
Acanthaceae
Herbs; sap absent; leaves usually with
cystoliths; flowers with 2 or 4 free stamens; fruit
a capsule often with internal hooks.
© J. Dransfield
Confused with:
Asclepias currassavica flowers
Asclepiadaceae
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Plants of East Sabah
© J. Gregson
Asclepiadaceae cont.
Asclepias currassavica fruit and seeds
Major genera:
Asclepias
Dischidia
Hoya
Tylophora
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Asclepiadaceae
Herbs, often woody at base; leaves herbaceous, without a tuft of trichomes
at base; filaments connate into a tube.
Epiphytic herbs, often climbing; leaves fleshy, sometimes formed into
pitchers; filaments shortly connate at base.
Herbs or shrubs, often epiphytic; leaves fleshy, sometimes with a tuft of
trichomes at the base; filaments shortly connate at base.
Herbs or shrubs; leaves herbaceous, usually with a tuft of trichomes at the
base; filaments shortly connate at base.
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Plants of East Sabah
Leguminosae–Papilionoideae
Contributed by Ruth Clark
Confused with:
Field characters:
Connaraceae
Stipules absent; sepals free; fruit often consist
of c. 5 separate carpels.
Leguminosae–Caesalpinioideae
Median petal overlapped by the other petals;
stamens free, often hairy.
Polygalaceae
Leaves simple; stipules absent; ovary usually
2-locular.
Trees, shrubs, lianas or herbs; leaves
alternate, unifoliolate to pinnate or pinnately
trifoliolate; petals the most showy part of the
flower, median petal overlaps the 2 adjoining
petals; fruit usually a legume or a loment.
Description:
© M. Coode
© J. Gregson
Habit trees, shrubs, lianas or herbs.
Sap rarely present.
Stipules usually present, but often falling early.
Leaves alternate, pinnate to pinnately
trifoliate or unifoliolate; pulvini present on
petiole for ‘sleep movements’; leaflet margins
usually entire.
Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic, usually 5merous; sepals united at base into a calyx
tube; petals the showiest part of flower,
median petal overlaps the 2 adjoining petals;
stamens 10–many, free or united into a sheath.
Ovary superior, 1-locular.
Fruit a legume.
Fruit of Ormosia sp.
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Leguminosae–Papilionoideae
Habit of Sesbania grandiflora
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© J. Gregson
Plants of East Sabah
Flowers of Mucuna cf. hainanensis subsp. multilamellata
Major genera:
Crotalaria
Dalbergia
Desmodium
Eriosema
Indigofera
Fordia
Millettia
Mucuna
Spatholobus
Tephrosia
Rhynchosia
Trees, or more commonly shrubs or herbs; leaves simple to 1–3(–7) palmate;
stipules present or absent; fruit dehiscent, inflated.
Trees, shrubs or lianas, sometimes spiny, red sap sometimes present; leaves
unequally pinnate with alternate leaflets; fruit indehiscent, winged.
Herbs; leaves pinnate, 1–3(–5) leaflets; fruit an (in)dehiscent loment, straight
along one margin and sinuous along the other.
Shrubs or herbs; leaves pinnately trifoliolate, with orange glands on lower
surface; legume dehiscent, with many long hairs.
Shrubs or herbs; leaves pinnate, leaflets 1–many, with T-hairs especially on
the lower surface; pods cylindrical.
Small trees or shrubs; leaves pinnate; axillary buds usually a little way above
the leaf axial; flowers along the main stem; legumes with 2 seeds.
Trees or climbers, red sap sometimes present; leaves simple or paripinnate;
leaflets opposite; legumes woody, dehiscent; seeds 1–4, massive.
Lianas; leaves trifoliolate; legumes usually dehiscent, with irritant hairs.
Lianas; leaves trifoliolate; inflorescence large, paniculate; fruit indehiscent,
like a samara.
Shrubs or herbs; leaves pinnate, leaflets 1–many, with close secondary
venation; fruit usually a dehiscent, hairy legume.
Shrubs or herbs, sometimes climbing; leaves pinnately, trifoliolate, with
orange glands on lower surface; legume dehiscent, with short hairs.
Leguminosae–Papilionoideae
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Plants of East Sabah
Meliaceae
Confused with:
Field characters:
Anacardiaceae
White sap present, turning black on exposure;
stamens free.
Burseraceae
Resiniferous; leaves imparipinnate, often with
pseudo-stipules; leaflets opposite and with
distinct petiolules; stamens free, 2-ovules
per cell.
Rutaceae
Leaves with pellucid dots; stamens free.
Sapindaceae
Leaves often with a free rachis tip; stamens
free, hairy; fruit often 3-lobed or hairy.
Trees, rarely shrubs; leaves spirally arranged,
usually pinnately compound, usually
imparipinnate; stipules absent; stamens
united and forming a tube; ovary superior.
Description:
© R. de Kok
Habit trees, rarely big shrubs or scrambling
small shrubs.
Sap absent.
Stipules absent, rarely with pseudostipules.
Leaves spirally arranged, usually pinnate to
bipinnate, rarely simple, usually
imparipinnate; leaflets alternate or subopposite, margins usually entire; sometimes
ending in a free rachis tip; hairs simple to bifid
or stellate, peltate scales sometimes present.
Flowers bisexual or unisexual, small; sepals
usually 3–5; petals usually 3–7; disk present;
stamens usually fused in a tube.
Ovary superior.
Fruit a capsule, berry or drupe, often globose;
seeds dry with wings or fleshy and arillate.
© J. Gregson
Free rachis tip of Chisocheton lasiocarpus
Fruit of Heynea trijuga
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Meliaceae
© R. de Kok
© J. Gregson
Flower of Dysoxylum cauliflorum
Fruit of Chisocheton sp.
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© J. Gregson
Plants of East Sabah
Inflorescence of Aglaia oligophylla
Genera:
Aglaia
Aphanamyxis
Azadirachta
Chisocheton
Dysoxylum
Heynea
Lansium
Sandoricum
Toona
Vavaea
Walsura
Xylocarpus
Leaves imparipinnate, rarely simple, drying pale green, usually with scales or
stellate hairs; fruit a berry.
Leaves imparipinnate, with scales or simple hairs; fruit a capsule.
Leaves paripinnate, hairs simple; fruit a drupe.
Leaves imparipinnate, rarely paripinnate or simple, usually the rachis with a
free tip, hairs simple; fruit a capsule.
Leaves imparipinnate, rarely simple, usually the rachis without a free tip,
hairs simple; fruit a capsule.
Leaves imparipinnate without a free end tip, hairs simple; fruit a capsule.
Leaves paripinnate; hairs simple; fruit a berry, on branches and trunks.
Leaves trifoliolate, hairs simple; fruit a drupe.
Leaves pinnate, usually paripinnate, hairs simple, stamens free; fruit a
woody capsule with winged seeds.
Trees with Terminalia-type branching and simple leaves, hairs simple; fruit
a berry.
Leaves imparipinnate, rachis swollen at insertion of leaflets, hairs simple or
bifid; fruit a 1–2(– 4)-seeded berry.
Mangrove trees; leaves paripinnate, without a free end tip, hairs simple,
calyx valvate; fruit a large sub-spherical capsule.
Meliaceae
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