Wordless Wednesday

Pods of Sterculia megistophylla

...and what's inside

Postcard from Borneo #7: Of the rarest plant of all

In case you were wondering: yes, we did see one.

Rafflesia keithii (I think): one of the 17 known species of this parasitic flower which appears, without leaves or stems, from the roots of the liana vine. This is something of a holy grail for enthusiastic plant-hunters: so I'm feeling very, very privileged.

This was the only one flowering in Sabah, around the area of Poring Springs near Mt Kinabalu where there's one of the highest concentrations of these extremely rare plants: private garden owners make rich pickings when the flowers appear, but since it's not possible to transplant them or grow them from seed you have to be very, very lucky to have one appear in your garden. A bit like winning the botanical lottery.

They stink. There's no way of getting around it: Capt WE Johns, in his eminent tome 'Biggles in Borneo', refers to it as smelling of 'death and corruption'. Exactly so. Just think forgotten packet of mince left in the back of the fridge for a month or so.

It's pollinated by flies, of course: nothing with such a foul smell could be anything else.

The flowers start as swellings appearing like toadstools from the ground. It can take one of these swellings between 9 and 12 months to reach flowering stage (and not all of them get there): and then the flower lasts one week before it dies.

Did you ever see anything so redolent of putrefaction in your life?

Postcard from Borneo #6: Of birds, buttresses and butterflies

Well... let's start with the buttresses then:

Mangrove trees along the river

And some wonderfully mossy buttresses in the rainforest.


The trees were incredible: this one was a strangler fig. There was once another, live tree in the centre of this tower of trunks.

And some were so huge they made Californian redwoods look feeble.

Butterflies.... well, they were just everywhere.

(we took ages wondering what this lot were so excited about: was it that bit of brightly-coloured plastic? Or something rather more yucky? We decided probably the latter, so didn't go and investigate).


And not forgetting the birds....


Did you know that birds can't see at night? So if, as happened in this case, you chance upon a snoozing kingfisher by the riverbank, it will freeze and hope you don't see it rather than fly off since it's worried it might fly into something. We could have reached out and picked this one off the branch above our heads: it would have just about fitted into the palm of my hand.

Postcard from Borneo #5: Of plants that eat animals

You can't talk about plants and Borneo in the same breath without mentioning pitcher plants.

Nepenthes, as they should more properly be known, are something of a Borneo speciality. There are 32 known varieties on the island: many are found nowhere else on earth.

In case you've been hiding your head under a pile of sand for the last decade or so, pitcher plants are famous for 'eating' live creatures. Those quotation marks are advised: actually what they do is dissolve flies, insects and anything up to a small mouse in digestive juices held in those curious jug-like bladders. They may be ghoulish but there's a certain fascination about them: and maybe even beauty. They do also flower (safely high above where the pitchers grow, so beneficial pollinating insects aren't accidentally eaten by their host).

I wasn't visiting Borneo at the best time to see pitchers, as the dry season was well set in and most of them had dried into brown, papery husks: but there were a few spectacular specimens about which gave me just a glimpse of what might be out there.

Nepenthes ampullaria

...and again

Nepenthes burbidgeae

... and an unknown variety, possibly another N. burbidgeae but mis-labelled as N. rajah - the largest pitcher plant in Borneo and one I'd dearly love to see (about four times the size of this one). I didn't have a chance to root around for any other labels as I was a little preoccupied in preventing the Chinese lady next to me throwing stones in to this one's mouth to see if she could make it close. I gave her a very polite lecture on the habits of pitcher plants and the difference between them and Venus flytraps, and she was rather touchingly grateful and thereafter assumed I was a tour guide. She was very smiley, though obviously habitually misguided.

Postcard from Borneo #4: Of orchids

Orchids are everywhere in Borneo: a tenth of the world's wild species are found here. They festoon trees in the forest and scramble over stones and stumps in gardens and parks, and I have not the faintest idea what most of them are called: but oh, they are so heartbreakingly beautiful to look at.

(Actually I do know what this one is. It's the Rothschild Slipper Orchid (Paphiopedilum rothschildianum): phenomenally rare, and flowering its heart out just for us.)

Postcard from Borneo #3: Monkey business

Long-tailed macaques (I won't mention what these two were up to five seconds before this photo was taken)

Awwww.......

Yes, it is. Six feet long and only 'mildly' venomous. These mangrove snakes were not only hanging over our heads in trees in a mildly terrifying way but also slithering around among our riverside huts. Oh yes, and there were pythons too. And crocodiles in the river.

Chameleon trying to look inconspicuous at Poring Hot Springs.

And this, of course, was what we were all there for (well, that and in my case, the rare plants). Orang-utans have now lost 80% of their natural habitat and are increasingly confined, as this one was, to rehabilitation centres like the one at Sepilok.

However we did also - amazingly - see three of these wonderful creatures in the wild: but you'll have to take my word for it as I was holding someone else's camera at the time so they've got all the evidence.

Postcard from Borneo #2: Of forest flowers

At Poring Hot Springs (and they were, very hot) halfway up the mountain, there were lots of these gorgeous things: blowed if I know what they are though...

Ah: this is easier. Heliconia are everywhere in Borneo: just the one variety, but beautiful.

Wild datura trees on top of a hill

Hibiscus growing on the same hill: a possible garden escapee, I thought

A wierd and wonderful ginger flower bud; this one in the Rainforest Discovery Centre near Sandakan

One man's weed..... Morning glory is the Borneo equivalent of bindweed. Wish I had that problem.

Postcard from Borneo #1: Of mountains and jungles

Apologies for the lengthy silence - I've just been off on my hols. And we're not talking Torremolinos: I abandoned small children to ever-patient husband and set off halfway around the world to explore the jungles of Borneo.

Since there is, unsurprisingly and rather refreshingly, no internet access in the jungle, I thought I'd follow the time-honoured tradition of only sending your postcards once you've arrived home and hoping nobody notices the postmark.

Mount Kinabalu, just outside the capital, Kota Kinabalu and the view that dominated the first half of the week.

This is not a small mountain: 4000 feet or so of solid granite, and it's still growing.

Best of all, it is cloaked in rainforest: and there be rare plants in them thar hills.....