Fallen Blossom. Dipterocarpus crinitus at Wallace's Santubong, Sarawak, Malaysia
The Santubong peninsula which juts out into the South China Sea about 30 km north of Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, is famous in the history of evolutionary science. From late 1854 through January of 1855, Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), the famous naturalist, well-known to amateurs as well for his great two-volume masterpiece "The Malay Achipelago"(1869), was the guest here of the first White Rajah of Sarawak, James Brooke. Wallace was a never-tiring collector and traveller, naturalist and anthropologist and much more (a good marksman, too). But he was also a thinker. In Brooke's Santubong house, Wallace managed to write one of the most important papers in the history of evolutionary theory: 'On the Law which has Regulated the Introduction of New Species' (published in November 1855). This law is usually called "The Sarawak Law" and it describes the process of biological evolution using the simile of a tree. The strength of Wallace's powers of concentration was such that he managed to write this paper (in clear and literate English) without directly refering at all to his amazing natural suroundings at Santubong, while at the same time collecting and observing.
Wallace maintained a close correspondence with his friend Charles Darwin - to whom he dedicated "The Malay Archipelago". And Darwin was indebted to Wallace for stimulating him to write 'The Origin of Species' (1859).
The simile of a tree led me to think that this photo might be appropriate. The Dipterocarpus crinitus is one of the giants of the tropical rain forest together with, for example, the various kinds of meranti. This Dipterocarpus can reach the height of some 60 metres, and even thinking of scaling it was dizzying let alone would have been impossible for me. On our little jungle trek on the slopes of Mount Santubong, I found on the forest floor and resting lightly on lower vegetation fading, fallen blossoms from on high of our Keruing mempelas, as it is called in Malay. I'd often seen these trees elsewhere in Southeast Asia, but never yet the blossoms.
Sadly, this grand Dipterocarpus is an endangered hardwood tree; there's a great demand for it in the western world but especially, too, in China. Much illegal logging goes on and transportation of illicitly cut logs across state borders on Borneo. Since 1993, though, and the National Forestry Act of Malaysia, with severe penalties for logging criminals, there is at least an instument which, when applied, might help save these magnificent trees.
For those who enjoy reading detectives - Shamini Flint, writing in Singapore, has recently published "Inspector Singh Investigates. A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder". An important part in this most readable book is played by a logging firm and its illegal practices on Borneo against both trees and indigenous peoples.
But the blossom on the photo was naturally fallen! It measures 4,5 to 5,5 cm.
Fallen Blossom. Dipterocarpus crinitus at Wallace's Santubong, Sarawak, Malaysia
The Santubong peninsula which juts out into the South China Sea about 30 km north of Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, is famous in the history of evolutionary science. From late 1854 through January of 1855, Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), the famous naturalist, well-known to amateurs as well for his great two-volume masterpiece "The Malay Achipelago"(1869), was the guest here of the first White Rajah of Sarawak, James Brooke. Wallace was a never-tiring collector and traveller, naturalist and anthropologist and much more (a good marksman, too). But he was also a thinker. In Brooke's Santubong house, Wallace managed to write one of the most important papers in the history of evolutionary theory: 'On the Law which has Regulated the Introduction of New Species' (published in November 1855). This law is usually called "The Sarawak Law" and it describes the process of biological evolution using the simile of a tree. The strength of Wallace's powers of concentration was such that he managed to write this paper (in clear and literate English) without directly refering at all to his amazing natural suroundings at Santubong, while at the same time collecting and observing.
Wallace maintained a close correspondence with his friend Charles Darwin - to whom he dedicated "The Malay Archipelago". And Darwin was indebted to Wallace for stimulating him to write 'The Origin of Species' (1859).
The simile of a tree led me to think that this photo might be appropriate. The Dipterocarpus crinitus is one of the giants of the tropical rain forest together with, for example, the various kinds of meranti. This Dipterocarpus can reach the height of some 60 metres, and even thinking of scaling it was dizzying let alone would have been impossible for me. On our little jungle trek on the slopes of Mount Santubong, I found on the forest floor and resting lightly on lower vegetation fading, fallen blossoms from on high of our Keruing mempelas, as it is called in Malay. I'd often seen these trees elsewhere in Southeast Asia, but never yet the blossoms.
Sadly, this grand Dipterocarpus is an endangered hardwood tree; there's a great demand for it in the western world but especially, too, in China. Much illegal logging goes on and transportation of illicitly cut logs across state borders on Borneo. Since 1993, though, and the National Forestry Act of Malaysia, with severe penalties for logging criminals, there is at least an instument which, when applied, might help save these magnificent trees.
For those who enjoy reading detectives - Shamini Flint, writing in Singapore, has recently published "Inspector Singh Investigates. A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder". An important part in this most readable book is played by a logging firm and its illegal practices on Borneo against both trees and indigenous peoples.
But the blossom on the photo was naturally fallen! It measures 4,5 to 5,5 cm.