The most accessible limestone hill of Bau

**kuching** · 9th Apr 2007, 19:53

What is happening if a rough terrain's limestone hill is too accessible to everyone? The answer is.....all the beautiful plants (especially orchids, pitcher plants & Begonias) are almost gone!!!

On the Easter Sunday, my friend (yuping) from Indonesian Borneo came to visit me. Both of us decided to go to look for pitcher plants in a limestone hill at Bau.

I think I had climb that hill for several times since I was 14-year-old but failed to reach the summit as there are a few trails near the summit area....and I failed to find the right trail to the summit. This place is the worst place to look for plants as most of the plants are collected by mountain climbing people and commercial collectors.

I was told that in the past, the summit got a lot of Nepenthes northiana (one of the most beautiful pitcher plants from Sarawak) but when I was there....it's all gone !!!! I also heard that a lot of local people who took the plants back and most of them failed to cultivate it at home.

The limestone hill forest at Bau:

**kuching** · 9th Apr 2007, 20:01

In this trip, I finally reached the summit. It's hot & dry up there....and the rocky landscape is a perfect habitat for Nepenthes northiana, an endemic species from Sarawak. Too bad, I failed to find it. I only got half an hour to explore the summit before it's started to rain. (note: the limestone rocks will become very slippery when it rains!)

The rocky summit....where the trees there are very short & thin.

The scenery at the summit:

My friend from Kalimantan found something interesting in the bush....

**kuching** · 9th Apr 2007, 20:08

We only found some N. northiana "hiding" under a big rock about 200 feet below the summit in a shady area.

This pitcher of N. northiana is about 20cm long (some can grow bigger than that):

I was shocked to find out that the population of natural cross hybrid, Nepenthes x cincta is bigger than N. northiana in the summit area! (N. albomarginata x N. northiana)

**kuching** · 9th Apr 2007, 20:14

Some of N. x cincta are growing in the shady areas:

And some are growing under the full sunlight at the summit; this one below is the upper pitcher of N. x cincta:

Another cross hybrid species: Nepenthes x bauensis (N. gracilis x N. northiana) from nearby area; the one below is an unopened pitcher:

Nepenthes x bauensis is named after Bau town of Sarawak.

**kuching** · 9th Apr 2007, 20:22

And my friend spotted an unusual pitcher plant which I never seen before. Both of us think it is another cross hybrid !!! It's looks like Nepenthes mirabilis cross with Nepenthes northiana !!!! Beautiful plant!!!

The leaves looks like something in between N. mirabilis & N. northiana.

Others plant :

There are at least 3 species of slipper orchid in this hill but I failed to find any. Most of the slipper orchids are over collected by people as it's one of the beautiful orchids from Borneo.

Anyway, we found this beautiful Bulbophyllum gracilimum:

**kuching** · 9th Apr 2007, 20:37

Bulbophyllum gracilimum- does it looks like a jelly fish in this picture?

OH NO!!!! I finally found one of the smallest orchids on this earth!!! This is single-leaf orchid called Corybas pictus. The leaf is about 1 to 1.5cm across. The flower is very beautiful...but alas, not the flowering season yet. It's growing together with the moss on the limestone wall.

And....this is unidentified species of the flower of Phalaenopsis fell down to the ground. It is probably either P. lamelligera or P. maculata (?)