New or rare Malayan plants
H. N. Ridley, Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, published this seventh instalment of his “New or Rare Malayan Plants” series in 1915, describing six new species and two notable taxonomic observations drawn from collections across the Malay Peninsula and Borneo. The paper reflects the ongoing botanical survey of the region during the early colonial period, with Ridley himself and collectors such as Burn Murdoch, Beccari, and Burkill supplying the specimens.
Summary
The article is a taxonomic catalogue of new and noteworthy plant records, each entry providing a formal morphological description followed by locality data and a brief comparative note. Five of the six new species are from Pahang, reflecting the productive collecting work of Burn Murdoch in the Temerloh and Pahang river areas, while the remaining new species come from Penang and Singapore. Ridley’s descriptions follow the conventions of early twentieth-century botanical nomenclature, with detailed measurements of leaves, flowers, fruits, and other diagnostic features.
The most historically interesting entry is the account of Koompassia excelsa in Sarawak, where Ridley observed the tree in fruit for the first time in living memory. Beccari had collected the only known flower specimens in the 1870s, and no one in Sarawak—not even the oldest Dyak residents—had previously seen the tree fruiting, suggesting an extremely long reproductive cycle. Ridley also notes the contrast with K. malaccensis in Singapore, which flowers annually and produces green pods, unlike the brilliant red fruiting of K. excelsa.
The final entry, Dinebra arabica, is a brief note on an introduced grass collected by Burkill at Port Swettenham in 1913, identified as a native of Africa and India that had been accidentally introduced to the region.
Key Findings
- Six new species described: Ormosia penangensis (Leguminosae), Eugenia salictoides (Myrtaceae), Cordia premnifolia (Boraginaceae), Justicia remotifolia (Acanthaceae), Thismia racemosa (Burmanniaceae), and Pandanus tetradon (Pandanaceae).
- Koompassia excelsa was observed in fruit in Sarawak in January 1915; no resident or Dyak had previously seen it fruiting, and Beccari’s two flower sprays from the 1870s were the only known herbarium specimens (p. 11).
- Ormosia penangensis was collected at 2,000 feet altitude on Government Hill, Grace Dieu, Penang, by Mohammed Haniff (p. 11).
- Cordia premnifolia was collected from three localities in Pahang: Pahang river (Burn Murdoch 186), Tanjong Antan (Ridley 2158), and Kwala Lipis (Machado 11567); the native name “Sekundai” is recorded (p. 12).
- The male spadix of Calamus caesius was described for the first time from cultivated plants in the Singapore Botanic Gardens, over 2 feet long with grey thorny spathes (p. 13).
- Dinebra arabica was collected by Burkill (No. 358) at Port Swettenham, Selangor, in 1913, and identified as an accidental introduction from Africa or India (p. 14).
Conclusion
Ridley’s paper serves as a straightforward contribution to the floristic inventory of the Malay Peninsula and Borneo, extending the known species count with six new taxa and filling a gap in the reproductive biology of Koompassia excelsa. The rarity of the K. excelsa fruiting event underscores the limited empirical knowledge of long-cycle tropical trees at the time, even among experienced colonial botanists.
Context
- Ridley held the position of Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, and the paper is part of an ongoing series (this is Series VII) that systematically documented the region’s flora for the colonial scientific establishment.
- The collecting network relied upon—Burn Murdoch in Pahang, Beccari in Borneo, Burkill in Selangor, and local collectors such as Mohammed Haniff—reflects the collaborative but hierarchically structured botanical survey apparatus of the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States in the early twentieth century.