Rafflesia arnoldii in Borneo?

The question of the existence of the real Rafflesia arnoldii in Borneo has been raised many times by botanists, even by the late Willem Meijer in his monumental revision in the Flora Malesiana. There was no credible evidence to suggest a case but some old pictures from Gunung Raya, Kalimantan. Recent posting of Rafflesia bloom in Gunung Gading by LadyExpat jolted me because it was so much different than the famed Rafflesia tuan-mudae, common around this site.



Upon several email exchanges with her, the photo was actually not from lower Gading populations per se where Rafflesia tuan-mudae is in abundance.

This may well be the first recent comfirmation of the co-occurence of Rafflesia arnoldii in Sumatera and (lower) Borneo. I am in the process of reviewing all records of Rafflesia in Borneo, including the possible occurence of Rafflesia keithii (from Sabah) in Sarawak.

Quadruple Bloomings of Rafflesia

In April - June 2008, I despatched Suresh Aru, one of our newest RRMT students, to be attached to Global Environment Centre (GEC) in Gua Musang to work with Balu Perumal's UNDP-DANIDA funded Nenggiri River Conseration Programme (NRCP). We have been actively spporting and assisting GEC for sometime and I was asked to write a proposal for the Conservation Management and Community Participation of Rafflesia of Nenggiri Valey. Suresh and several other trainees were asked to survey, identify and map the entire populations of Rafflesia in Lojing/Nengiri area.

One of the most popular sites in Lojing is the one in Pos Brooke. This site is about 45 min drive from Cameron Highlands, a popular highland tourist destination in Peninsular Malaysia. Most tourists in 5-10 paxs would come and visit this site with many populations of Rafflesia from Cameron Highlands, thus most postings in the Net (Blogs, Flickr etc) would inadvertently reported that this is a Rafflesia from Cameron Highlands. The malay proverb say that this is lembu punya susu, sapi dapat nama. I have said and commented about this many times in this blog, here, here, here, and here.

Nevertheless, Suresh came back from the assigment with many photos of Rafflesia bloomings for the period, including a report of 3+1 bloomings of Rafflesia in Pos Brooke. It was indeed a rare sight, especially for 3 large-sized Rafflesia bloomings next to each other. Actually there was another bloom some half a km away, so you could say that it is actually quadruple blooms!
So far the only available photo with 4 blooms of Rafflesia that I am aware of, is the one taken by Mathew Wong from Gunung Chamah. But thay one is for mid-sized Rafflesia cantleyi.




I am still digesting the report and preparing a full write-up. Maanwhile enjoy the photos in my Flickr staring from here. And please slide left - right to see the whole series of these blooms.

If you know anybody who want to do their MSc or PhD we have plenty of research projects for you. As a designated premier Research University of Malaysian Higher Education Ministry, we have several post-docs available. If you are interested please write to us.

BlogSpot

Well, our site was featured in the BlogSpot of Malay Mail in July.

Rafflesia speciosa in Ionggos, Philippines

I was informed about the article in The News Today on the Rafflesia in Igbaras and how the people in this area trying to promote this as eco-tourism destination. The article project some excellent photos of Rafflesia speciosa photos, a rare species of Panay.

Parasitic Flowering Plant Book

An email from Dr. H. S. Heide-Jørgensen about the Parasitic Plant book I blogged in Mac 2008 confirms that the book was released on 2nd June 2008. I am looking forward for a free copy which should be under way and I will tell you more once I got it. However, I have misunderstood his email and not everyone can obtain a 35% discount. This discount is only for those who have contributed to the book and only a single copy for personal use. So sorry to all, no discount from me. However, a 20% discount is offered to members of a number of International Botanical Societies including among others International Parasitic Plant Society, Australian Systematic Botany Society, Botanical Society of America and Botanical Society of Japan. I do not recall of any botanical society in Malaysia, but I have already emailed Dr Heide-Jørgensen perhaps the publisher will honor the same discount to members of Flora SIG of MNS, in which I am a member.

World Second Largest Rafflesia?

How funny!

Bernama reported that "expedition group from six local universities (me include?) found "the world's second largest species of Rafflesia flower" in the Lojing Highlands. This follows the biggest Rafflesia species found in Kalimantan, Indonesia". These people doesn't know what they are talking about. Where do they get this information?. Detail report is here:
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/state_news/news.php?id=337888&cat=et
We probably need a new science news editor in Bernama.

I was in the expedition and gave a talk on the Rafflesia of Kelantan the day before they arrived. So she missed the point. The largest flower ever recorded from Lojing populations is 111 cm, even much larger than one recorded in the Guiness's. This was already been published. Kalimantan species? What species in Kalimantan that is so large? They do not even have Rafflesia arnoldii which is refuted to be the largest, in Sumatera. They should have check the fact with us.

I blogged about Lojing site many many times here. You can search and this population is already known for ages, people flocking the site from Cameron Highlands, not knowing that this is in Kelantan. Nothing new.

Well what do you expect from "expert" from Sabah, talking about Rafflesia in kelantan.
If you look at the banner they use, they even have Rafflesia pricei for the species in Lojing !
Click on the image below and see for yourself. Go figure.

Rafflesia T-shirt from RRMT

I publicise this t-shirt in my Flickr photostream (link here) and in no time the M size runs out of stock. My son printed 200 of these t-shirts in two designs, and asked me to be a model. If you see peoples walking around with these t-shirts, you know who is selling it. If you want one for yourself please send me an email and let me know your size (XXXL, XXL, XL, L, M, S). If you want to see more photos, visit my Flickr photostream.

My son will sent these t-shirts (2 designs) anywhere in the planet, with added small sum for postage. The price is only RM25 (USD 8.50) , plus postage. I would imagine this will not be more than USD10.00, total cost per t-shirt.

Rafflesia of X-Ray Camp, Belum

NST (Travel section) on 2 June 2008 has published a story in an article by Putri Zanina on the bloom in Kem X-Ray in Belum. It is interesting that people are begining to flock this site, one of our 70 over monitoring sites in Peninsular Malaysia. In my recent visit to this site, we have seen the sign of stress to the population. The entire area looks like a paddy field, or bendang. With this publicity in the NST, things would even worst in the next blooming.

Well, we can never win, can we?

You can read the said article "A few Blooming Seconds", here.

Alex and his Rafflesia

My good friend Alex Bell arrived in Kuala Lumpur and asked me if he could visit some sites to see Rafflesia. I contacted our resident Rafflesia hunters in Gerik and was told that the site has rafflesia in bloom. Alex traveled light to Gerik by bus and was met by En Ishak. As usual Gerik did not dissapoint my guess and was able to tell the world that he has seen the Rafflesia, not one but two species and several blooms.

If any of you happen to be in Peninsular Malaysia, and wanted to see Rafflesia, for a small fee, he is my best bet.


En Ishak was assisted by his friend Omar, here in group photo with Alex.

More photos of this Rafflesia and other wildlife can be seen in his Flickr photostream

New Book on Parasitic Flowering plants

Got an email from Dr. H. S. Heide-Jørgensen from Lyngby, Denmark informing me that the new book ’Parasitic Flowering Plants’ is ready for printing by The Brill in Holland. You can check the progress via http://www.viscum.dk and read positive reviews from none other than our famous parasitic plants expert, Dr J Kuijt. I will be geting a complimentary copy for photographs used in the book (gosh I almost forgotten !). According to Dr Heide-Jørgensen, I can claim a negotiated 35% discount on the EUR 99 list price of the book. If anyone in Malaysia want to make use of this discount, please let me know as soon as possible.