Hear the whispers of the forest giants. You are standing at the edge of the Dipterocarp Arboretum. It is a sanctuary for some of Southeast Asia’s most magnificent trees. These trees play a vital role in the timber trade. Many are now endangered because of excessive logging.
The Dipterocarp Arboretum is dedicated to saving these trees. It is a living library of the Dipterocarpaceae family. This family includes about 695 known species. They are mainly lowland tropical forest trees.
Dipterocarps are pantropical. They stretch from northern South America to Africa. They are also found in the Seychelles, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Borneo boasts the greatest diversity of Dipterocarpaceae.
The largest genera are Shorea, Hopea, and Dipterocarpus. These trees often tower over the forest. They reach heights of 40 to 70 meters. Some even exceed 80 meters. The tallest known living specimen is a Shorea faguetiana. It stands at 93.0 meters tall. Locals call it Menara. That means “tower” in Malay. It resides in the Danum Valley in Sabah.
The name “Dipterocarpus” comes from Greek words. “Di” means two. “Pteron” means wing. “Karpos” means fruit. The name refers to the two-winged fruit of these trees. Other genera with more than two wings are also included in the family.
The Dipterocarpaceae family has two subfamilies. There is Dipterocarpoideae. It contains 13 genera and about 475 species. Their distribution ranges from the Seychelles to Southeast Asia. Borneo has the most. Dipterocarpoideae has two groups. These are Valvate and Imbricate. The other subfamily is Monotoideae. It contains three genera and 30 species.
Asian dipterocarps share a common ancestor with Sarcolaenaceae. Sarcolaenaceae is a tree family endemic to Madagascar. This suggests the ancestor of dipterocarps came from Gondwana. That was the southern supercontinent. The ancestor was in the India-Madagascar-Seychelles land mass millions of years ago. India carried them northward. It collided with Asia. This allowed dipterocarps to spread.
Dipterocarp resins have been traced back to the Eocene of India. The oldest fossil of the family dates to the Cretaceous period in India. It can be assigned to the genus Dipterocarpus.
Dipterocarpaceae species can be evergreen or deciduous. In Thailand, they grow from sea level to about 1300 meters elevation. They thrive in lowland dipterocarp forests, riparian fringes, and limestone hills.
Dipterocarps have dominated Borneo’s lowland rain forests for millions of years. They are a keystone species. They are essential to the function and structure of these forests.
Climate change and land cover impact dipterocarp distribution. Land cover alone has reduced species distributions significantly. Climate change also reduces species distributions and shifts them upward in elevation.
Nearly all species of Dipterocarpaceae in Borneo are imperiled. The Dipterocarp Arboretum serves as a vital refuge. It helps preserve these magnificent trees for future generations.
Take a moment to appreciate the towering Dipterocarps around you. They represent a legacy stretching back millions of years. Their future depends on our actions today. Let us cherish and protect these forest giants. They are a treasure for Malaysia and the world.