A scientific expedition to Temengoh, Upper Perak
H. N. Ridley, Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, co-authored this extensive expedition report with H. C. Robinson, published in 1911, documenting a July 1909 scientific survey of the Temengoh district in Upper Perak—a region previously unknown to botanists and zoologists. The overarching contribution is a comprehensive baseline inventory of the area’s flora and fauna, yielding numerous new species and genera while establishing that the Temengoh valley’s biota, though containing some distinctive elements, was fundamentally continuous with that of the broader Perak region.
Summary
The expedition departed Kuala Kangsar on 4 July 1909, comprising Ridley, Robinson, C. B. Kloss, Dyak collectors, and the plant collector Amat. The party travelled by gharry to Lenggong and Grit before proceeding on foot and by elephant to Ulu Temengoh, where they established a base camp for intensive collecting. Ridley’s narrative interweaves travel observations—encounters with Semang (Negrito) communities, the discovery of a fully opened Rafflesia Hasseltii flower, and the practical difficulties of leeches, fever, and the unavailability of elephants—with the scientific work. The Semang observations are of particular ethnographic interest: the group recorded their apparent absence of deity concepts, their monogamous social structure, and their use of a travelling ration of pounded tapioca in bamboo cylinders (pp. 8–9).
The zoological section, by Robinson, catalogues approximately 100 bird species and 20 mammal species. The fauna proved unremarkable in terms of endemism, with the notable exception of a new rat in the muelleri group and the observation that several species normally restricted to altitudes above 3,000 feet in Batang Padang and Selangor occurred below 1,000 feet at Temengoh, possibly due to the proximity of the main range (p. 15). Mammals were exceedingly scarce, and monkeys particularly so; a single gibbon was shot but lost in the river (p. 14).
The botanical section constitutes the bulk of the article and represents the expedition’s principal scientific output. Ridley identified a flora with its greatest affinity to Penang and the northern peninsula, while river-bank plants showed closer ties to the Pahang east coast (p. 19). A recurring theme is a tendency toward increased hairiness among new species—Costus velutinus, Cyrtandra barbata and rotundifolia, Didymocarpus crinita—which Ridley attributes to the sandy, comparatively dry soils of the region (p. 19). The most significant taxonomic discovery was Stichoneuron caudatum, a new species in a genus previously represented by a single Himalayan species, adding considerable biogeographical interest to the Roxburghiaceae (pp. 107–108). Two new genera, Campimia and Phaulanthus, were erected within the Melastomaceae to resolve longstanding confusion in the section Oxysporeae (pp. 40–41).
Key Findings
- New species described: Over 40 new species were formally described, including Stichoneuron caudatum (Roxburghiaceae), Columbia integrifolia (Tiliaceae), Stephanotis parviflora (Asclepiadaceae), Hoya perakensis, Quercus minor (Juglandaceae), Ficus cordata, Costus velutinus, Saccolabium Hobsonii, and Cephalostachyum malayense (pp. 25–118).
- New genera erected: Campimia (Melastomaceae, 2 species) and Phaulanthus (Melastomaceae, 6 species), both separated from Anerincleistus on the basis of axillary-only inflorescences and stamen appendage morphology (pp. 40–42).
- First records for the Peninsula: Crotalaria chinensis (rocks at Kuala Temengoh), Engelhardtia spicata, Triumfetta suffruticosa, Solanum involucratum, Solanum aculeatissimum, Ruellia ringens var. dejecta, Diplazium alternifolium, and Lastrea padangensis (pp. 29, 68, 72, 78, 95, 116, 120).
- Rafflesia Hasseltii found in full flower at both Kuala Temengoh and Ulu Temengoh; the flower measured 18 inches across, bright red with raised white blotches, and had not previously been recorded for the Peninsula (pp. 7, 85).
- Altitudinal anomaly: Pyrotragon erythrocephalus, Hemipus picatus, Otocompsa flaviventris, and Cerilophus rothschildi—species rarely met below 3,000 feet in Batang Padang and Selangor—occurred at altitudes not exceeding 1,000 feet at Temengoh (p. 15).
- Gastrochilus plicatus, previously known only from a single plant collected by Dr. Gimlette in Kelantan, was found abundant near Kuala Temengoh, confirming its wider distribution (pp. 6, 102).
Conclusion
Ridley’s definitive takeaway is that the Temengoh district, while botanically unexplored before this expedition, did not harbour a fundamentally distinct flora or fauna; rather, it represented a northern extension of the Penang–Perak botanical province with a sandy-soil component that favoured hairy, xeromorphic forms. The expedition’s lasting value lies in its density of new taxa and in establishing the baseline from which future work in Upper Perak could proceed.
Context
- Ridley served as Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens; the expedition was organised under the auspices of colonial scientific administration, with logistical support from the Perak District Officer (Mr. Berkeley) and the use of government elephants (pp. 6, 9).
- The article draws on the Singapore Botanic Gardens herbarium for comparative material and represents one of the most comprehensive single-district floras published for the Malay Peninsula in the early twentieth century.