South East Asia
Like so many areas around the planet, SE Asia is losing vast amounts of forest to development and harvesting of natural resources. Our mission for this trip was two-fold: to locate and photograph plant specimens in situ where plants were in good numbers and to obtain plants or seed to be grown and multiplied in ex situ.
South East Asia
Like so many areas around the planet, SE Asia is losing vast amounts of forest to development and harvesting of natural resources. Our mission for this trip was two-fold: to locate and photograph plant specimens in situ where plants were in good numbers and to obtain plants or seed to be grown and multiplied in ex situ.
Horticultural exploration of Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos
Trip dates: 8/10/2018 to 9/14/2018. Written by Alan Galloway.
Trip participants: Alan Galloway (Juniper Level Botanic Garden, USA), Bjorn Malkmus–Hussein (Rare Seed Nursery, Germany), David Prehsler (University of Vienna, Austria), and Derek Carwood (Greenwood Horticulture, USA).
Introduction
All of the trip participants have interests ranging in all plant families, but all of us have a concentrated interests in Araceae and Zingiberaceae, hence SE Asia is a prime geographical spot to find so many of these plants. This trip is the second time all four of us have visited SE Asia together. Like so many areas around the planet, SE Asia is losing vast amounts of forest to development and harvesting of natural resources. Our mission for this trip was two-fold: locate and photograph plant specimens in situ where plants were in good numbers and to obtain plants or seed to be grown and multiplied in ex situ.
The flight
Airplane took off on time from RDU at 7:50 a.m. on Friday, August 10, headed for San Francisco. Luckily it was a rather quiet flight from San Francisco to Taipei, so I was able to get some sleep, which was much needed considering I did not get any Thursday night, packing for a 5 week trip. I arrived on Saturday in Taipei with 3.5 hours to spare till the next flight. Arrived at Manila airport at 11 p.m., but had to sit on the tarmac for another hour before debarking the plane since heavy rain had caused some delays. I went through immigration, picked up luggage, and cleared customs without incident. Exchanged some US dollars into Philippine pesos. The Manila airport consists of 4 terminals, all being quite some distance from each other, so I took a taxi from Terminal 1 to a budget hotel, directly across the road from Terminal 4 from which I would fly onto Palawan in a few hours.
On Sunday, August 12, I had just enough time to take a shower and repack my luggage. Since there is a weight limit on how much luggage one can carry on the plane from Manila to El Nido, I packed just enough clothes into a small carry-on luggage and my backpack, and left my larger piece of luggage at the hotel to pick up on my return. Dr. Lanie Medecilo, a botanist at De La Salle University-Dasmarinas had asked for some Amorphophallus DNA samples, so I left them at the hotel for her to pick up. Airplane left Manila at 5:55 a.m. and arrived in El Nido at 7:10 a.m. I took a tuk-tuk from the airport to Raab’s Botanica coffee shop. The day was spent walking around El Nido and touring Raab’s plant collection. Stayed in the Amakan hotel right across the street from Raab’s Botanica coffee shop.
Philippines
El Nido
Will Cabanillas, a tour guide and trekker from Puerto Princess City, joined Raab and I and we hiked up a karst mountain behind El Nido. Amorphophallus natolii was quite abundant, growing amongst the karst rocks with quite a few of them were in fruit. The top of the mountain provided for some great views overlooking El Nido Bay. We returned to Raab’s coffee shop for lunch and a brief rest. After lunch we trekked up another mountain to see what Raab thought was Amorphophallus declinatus, but given this species has a roughish petiole, it may prove to be a different species. Several Begonia and Alocasia species were found on both of these mountains. Will and I spent the night at Raab’s house.
Damaron Island
On Tuesday, August14, Will and I left El Nido at 6 a.m. taking a couple of shuttle van rides south and then taking a 1 hour boat ride to Damaron Island. Once on the island, we took a 1 hour motorbike ride to Araceli. We ate dinner with Will’s friends, Dickie Coronia Rodrigues and Bradley Dowenz and spent the night in a hotel in Araceli.
The next day, Will and I, along with Dickie and Bradley, took a 1 hour boat ride to an uninhabited island to see a new species of Amorphophallus Will discovered a few years earlier. Just as we started the trek up the mountain I took a nasty fall and injured my left elbow. Within minutes, I was not able to move my elbow and was worried I had broken it. Luckily, I was able to make it up the mountain with only one good arm! The new species was growing on slopes in shaded areas and several plants had nearly-mature fruit. Once back down from the mountain the guys spent a few hours snorkeling and fishing, while I stayed on the boat with an injured arm. Back in Araceli, we bought some fish at a local market, which Will and Dickie grilled to perfection!
On Thursday, Will and I took a 6 hour boat ride from Araceli back to mainland Palawan. Will headed back to Puerto Princess and I took a 3 hour shuttle van north back to El Nido.
Back in El Nido
Since I still could not move my arm on Friday, I went to medical center in El Nido and got an x-ray of my elbow. Luckily, no broken bones, just a severely bruised elbow! The doctor gave me some great pain killer meds.
On Saturday, I spent the morning walking around the edge of El Nido City. In a forested area just above the town, I found more plants of the ‘roughish petioled’ Amorphophallus declinatus, with several plants having mature fruit. After lunch Raab and I took a trip around the northern tip of Palawan. At one of the stops at a karst mountain we found an Amorphophallus species growing and collected a few ripe seed heads. On the way back to El Nido, we found another Amorphophallus species growing at the edge of a corn field with several large ripe seed heads.
Vietnam
Arrival
I left the hotel via tuk-tuk at 5 a.m. on Saturday, August 19, for the El Nido airport. I arrived at terminal 4 in Manila, picked up my luggage across the street at the hotel and then took a taxi to terminal 2. It took 3 hours to check in and go through immigration…(a Chinese aircraft ran off the runway Friday and delays lasted 3 days). Because of the 3 hour delay leaving Manila, I was extremely late catching my connecting flight in Ho Chi Minh City. As soon as I stepped into the terminal in Ho Chi Minh City, there were 3 Vietnam Airlines staff members waiting for me. They called ahead and asked the flight going to Hanoi to wait for me. Since we had to change terminals in the rain, two of the staff members held umbrellas and the third staff member helped me with the luggage. They even escorted me to the front of the security line so I could catch the flight to Hanoi. I wish every airline ranked customer service as much as Vietnam Airlines! I arrived at Hanoi airport around 9 p.m., exchanged some US dollars for Vietnam dong and checked into a hotel very near the airport.
Na Hang Nature Reserve
After breakfast we hiked up a mountain in Na Hang Nature Reserve. Arisaema lihengianum was one of my ‘target’ plants to locate on this trip. Since Son Hoang had written a paper a couple of years earlier on finding this plant in Vietnam, we had no problems finding it. About halfway up the mountain we found it in a couple of spots growing in pockets of dark humus soil amongst boulders. Unfortunately flowering season was May and there were no seeds to be found. Son Hoang pointed out an epiphytic Hedychium he discovered earlier that is in the process of being described as a new species.
This area was rich in so many plant families. Seen along the path to the summit was Asarum balansae, an Aspidistra with spotted leaves (This turned out to be a new species we are planning on publishing in honor of Alan’s work) , the beautiful burgundy spotted petiole of Disporopsis longifolia, at least 2 species of Camellia, Amorphophallus tonkinensis and coaetaneus and the huge trees of Magnolia conifera.
Near the summit was a Reserve Forestry station and since we arrived there at lunch time, the staff invited us to stay for lunch. After lunch they guided us the rest of the way to the summit. By the time Son Hoang and I got back down the mountain and the driver picked us up, it was almost dark, so we quickly went back to the hotel and got cleaned up for dinner.
The next day, we left Na Hang and met up with an orchid friend of Son Hoang and all 3 of us hiked around Chiem Hoa. We saw another species of Asarum growing in tight cracks of boulders and several species of Impatiens. After lunch Son Hoang and I started our drive back south and stayed in Tam Dao.
Tam Dao
After breakfast and stop at a coffee shop we hiked around Tam Dao. During the hike we saw several plants of Arisaema petelotii with green seedheads. This is a rhizomatous species with huge trifoliate leaves. I lost count of how many species of Begonia we saw. It was quite exciting to see Aucuba obcordata, as well as another species growing along the hiking paths. Another unidentied Camellia species was seen as well as another unidentified species of Magnolia. After lunch we headed back to Hanoi. Son Hoang and the driver dropped me off at the same hotel, but before they left Son Hoang gifted me with a bag of Vietnamese coffee…apparently he noticed that I was addicted to it!
Thailand
Arrival
In the morning on Friday, August 24, I flew from Hanoi to Bangkok arriving at the older airport. Exchanged some US dollars into Thai baht. Walked across the street to Amari hotel and met up with Bjorn Malkmus-Hussein and David Prehsler, who arrived in Bangkok the day before. Our driver picked us up and we began driving NW to Sai Yok in Kanchanaburi province. We made one stop before reaching Sai Yoi at Krasak Cave. We found what appeared to be Typhonium trilobatum at this stop.
Botanizing from Sai Yok to Myanmar border
On Sunday, August 26, we left Sai Yok and drove NW toward Thong Pha Phum.
Stop #1 – Shortly after leaving Sai Yok, we stopped along the main road just see what kind of plants we might find. Surprisingly we found Amorphophallus linearis growing on the ditchbanks.
Stop #2 – Just a few feet off the edge of the road we found this giant form of Amorphophallus paeoniifolius, as well as Amorphophallus muelleri. Bjorn also found species of Alpinia, Boesenbergia, Curcuma and Zingiber growing here.
Stop #3 – Sai Yok Yai Waterfall – The only plant found at this site was a Globba species that Bjorn really liked.
Stop #4 – Temple site – We found an Amorphophallus species here, it was a species that used to be classified as a Pseudodracontium. Also seen were colonies of a nicely patterned form of Hapaline.
Stop #5 – (NW of Thong Pha Phum) – Here we found Amorphophallus cicatricifer and amygdaloides. And to everyone’s excitement we also found Sauromatum tentaculatum. Since it was raining, taking photos was nearly impossible, so we all agreed to come back to this site in the morning, hoping to get some photos. We made our way back to Thong Pha Phum and stayed in a hotel along the river.
Next day we returned to yesterday’s last stop to get some photos. We also found an Arisaema with trifoliate leaves, a near-red flowering Globba species and a beautiful silver veined Impatiens species.
Between Thong Pha Phum and Kao Lam Nat. Park, we located more Amorphophallus maxwellii and amygdaloides. We also found a few more plants of Sauromatum tentaculatum…it appears this plant is widespread in Kanchanaburi province, but only a few sparse plants at each site. It was early afternoon and we were approaching Sangkla Buri, much too early to start the daily hotel search, so we opted to drive north about 45 minutes to Three Pagodas Pass at the Thai/Myanmar border. There is a small market here and sometime there are some nice plants being sold by the Myanmar locals. Bjorn found some Curcuma plants that he couldn’t live without. We ended the day at a hotel back in Sangkla Buri.
Khao Laem National Park
As we now had reached our most distant point from Bangkok, we now started our trip back.
Stop #1 – Between Sangkla Buri and Khao Laem National Park – Even though this area was quite hilly, it was extremely wet. We really didn’t expect to find any Amorphophallus here since it was so wet, but to our surprise we found 2 species that were not identifiable just from their leaves or the location, so perhaps they are new species. One of the species found by Bjorn had nearly black petioles and also formed intercalcary bulbils. The other species had species where the fruit were maturing to near-white in color.
Stop #2 – At this site we found an Amorphophallus (one of the species that used to be classified as a Pseudodracontium) that was nearly a meter tall with lanceolate leaflets.
Stop #3 – Kroeng Kra Wia Waterfall – SE of Khao Laem National Park – Again we found more Amorphophallus maxwellii and amygdaloides at this site. Given that we had now seen hundreds of plants of these 2 species, we began to take note of the variation in the petiole pattern and color of the petioles. We noticed that the Amorphophallus maxwellii petioles could be nearly solid black, nearly solid green, and even nearly solid white….just amazing!
Stop #4 – Between stop #3 and Thon Pha Phum – David found the Amorphophallus that I was on my ‘target’ list – one I had found some 15 years earlier that most likely is an undescribed species. This Thai species seems to have a distant look-alike brother in North Vietnam. Bjorn also found a Curcuma here with bright red bracts, C. rubrobracteata. We stayed at the same hotel from 2 days earlier in Thong Pha Phum.
The next day we returned back to the last stop from yesterday to get some photographs. We had almost given up on finding one of our ‘target’ plants to get some in-situ photos, but at last a stop between Thong Pha Phum and Sai Yok provided us the opportunity to capture Amorphophallus cirrifer. We also found Amorphophallus longituberosus here.
After lunch, David located a Typhonium wedged in the crack of rocks about 3 meters above the ground. Since he wanted to get a photograph of it, he had to climb on my shoulders to get to eye level. We ended the day staying in the same hotel in Sai Yok as we stayed in a few days earlier.
Erawan Waterfall
On Thursday, August 30, we left Sai Yok and returned to August 26 ‘linearis stop’.
Stop #1 – We were so excited to find Amorphophallus linearis a few days earlier, we all forgot to take any photographs, so we made a quick return to that site to capture some in-situ photos.
Stop #2 – from Sai Yok, we drove southeast to 1st Temple stop on a side road to Erawan Waterfall – We did not find any exciting plants at this stop, but we all got a good leg workout from climbing the Temple’s steps!
Stop #3 – on main road to Erawan Waterfall – Here we found a beautiful form of Typhonium laoticum with silver leaves, a stunning lavender flowered Impatiens species. We were all blown away with the variation of leaf patterns of Kaempferia roscoeana that were wedged into the karst rocks.
We also found what we think was a very fine-leafed form of Amorphophallus longituberosus.
Stop #4 – Erawan Waterfall – One of Thailand’s National Parks with stunning waterfalls. I was not quite sure what to make of the diamond shaped sign with a cobra painted on it along the walking path!
Stop #5 – on same side road as stop #2 – second temple stop – As we walked up the temple steps, we saw a beautiful form of Amorphophallus macrophyllus, and what we think may be a new species of Amorphophallus with deep green leaflets and margined in magenta. After this stop we continued on to Kanchanaburi to find a hotel for the night.
The next day after breakfast, we departed Kanchanburi for the long drive back to Bangkok. Derek Carwood had already made hotel reservations for all of us at a hotel very near the new airport, so check-in was quite fast. David went to the airport after dinner for Derek’s arrival.
Laos
Arrival
We arrived at the Bangkok airport with enough time for all four of us to have breakfast together and to map out where we would be traveling in Laos. Once we arrived in Vientiane, we got our visas, exchanged some US dollars into Lao kip and met the driver in front of the terminal. Since it was approaching lunch time, we asked the driver to find us a place to eat, so he carried us to one of his favorite places to eat. We made a quick stop to pick up some bottled water and snacks and spent the rest of the day driving south on HWY 13, the main north/south road in Laos. Once we reached the town of Paksan, we took the road north to Borikhan and found a hotel for the evening.
On Sunday, September 2, we left Borikhan and headed north, then east, and then south towards HWY 8.
Stop #1 – Since we had been driving for a few hours, this was more of a ‘stretch your legs’ stop than a stop to look for plants.
Stop #2 – After seeing miles and miles of flat rice fields, we found a single karst mountain rising from the rice paddies and found it to be quite abundant with nice plants. Here we found Amorphophallus bolikhamxayensis (several with ripe seed heads), a fairly large leafed Typhonium, a pale pink flowering Impatiens, as well as a nice yellow flowering Globba species.
Stop #3 – A fairly steep hill with a water stream. I think every one of us ended up slipping down multiple time from all the wet dirt. Some very tall forms of Disporopsis longifolia were in full fruit. We also found what we think me be 2 new Amorphophallus species at this site.
Stop #4 – (after lunch, second water stream) – Bjorn found an Aglaonema with huge ripe seed.
Stop #5 – karst mountain – We found more Amorphophallus bolihamxayensis and a nicely spotted-leafed Aspidistra species. David also found a trifoliate-leafed Arisaema. Since it was beginning to get dark, we decided to make our way southward to HWY 8 and then westward to Lak Xao to find a hotel.
Lak Xao
From Lak Xao, we drove east toward the Vietnam border.
Stop # 1 – very close to the border – Since it had rained a few hours before sunrise, everything was wet, but after a couple of minutes trekking from the roadside, this area proved quite rich in Amorphophallus. We saw what we think may be 4 new species, as well as finding a very large species that might have been Amorphophallus kachinensis. Bjorn, David and Derek were waiting by the van when I came down the hill. I was curious as to why they were all pointing at me. Once I looked down at my legs I realized why they were pointing. I had about 30 leeches on each leg and quite a bit of blood! Leeches are covered with some kind of slime, so once you touch them, the slime prevents you from grasping anything with your fingers, so I had to carve the leeches off my legs with a pocketknife. Since I was the elder member of the team, the group started chanting the phrase, “Papa don’t leech!”.
Returned to Lax Xao and went south.
Stop #2 – All of the trees had been harvested from most of this area for timber and planted in rice, so not many areas to find good plant material.
We returned back to Lak Xao for lunch. While sitting in the restaurant waiting for our food, one of the leeches had filled itself on my blood, detached itself and started crawling across the restaurant floor just as the waitress was bringing out our food. She went screaming back to the kitchen area.
Stop #3 – After lunch we went west to the site where Petra Schmidt, Annop Ongsakul, and I discovered Amorphophallus arcuspadix in 2003. When we were there in 2003 there were thousands of plants, but since the trees had grown so much in 15 years, they had shaded out the area and we only saw a few plants.
We returned to Lak Xao and went north. Did not find any good places to search for plants, so we headed back to the hotel in Lak Xao.
Ban Phonkho
Next day we left Lak Xao and drove westward to Ban Phonkho.
Stop #1 – just west of Lak Xao – Growing in heavy shade, we found a beautiful silver centered form of Peliosanthes and more leeches.
Stop #2 – Dragon Cave – Central Laos has numerous caves in Karst mountains and when these are found along the roadside, they make for great tourist stops. Here we found a beautiful pale pink Impatiens, a bright red-bracted Zingiber and 2 species of Habenaria orchids.
Stop #3 – Our next stop was at the site where Amorphophallus pulchellus was discovered. Sadly this site has practically been destroyed due to development…we were only able to find a single plant to photogragh.
Stop #4 – Here we found Amorphophallus bolikhamxayensis, which seems quite prolific in this area, but almost always found growing on Karst formations.
Stop #5 (after lunch) – Water stream near Ban Phonkho – growing in wet areas we found a species of Amorphophallus with glossy leaflets.
Stop #5 – Our last stop of the day was the original site where Amorphophallus barbatus was discovered. It was nice to find additional plants scattered in a larger area than originally seen, although they were still quite sparse.
We made our way back to Ban Phonkho, finding a hotel right at sunset. We drove to a restaurant that was popular among truckers. By the time our food arrived and we had eaten, our van had gotten boxed in by several big trucks. It took quite some time for the restaurant owner to get the truck owners to move their trucks so we could leave.
Ban Lao
Left Ban Phonkho and drove west to Ban Lao and then south on HWY 13.
Stop #1 – South of Ban Lao we found Amorphophallus croatii and crispifolius, as well as a solid green-leafed Peliosanthes.
Stop #2 – Just north of Thaket we took a side road to search for the original location of Amorphophallus claudelii. We were not able to find the original site, but at a stop in the general vicinity we were able to find it. Also here we found Amorphophallus laoticus growing.
We continued onto Thaket and found a hotel right on the Mekong river. Our timing was perfect to get some great shots of the sun setting over the Mekong.
On September 6, we left Thaket and headed east on HWY 12 toward Gnommelet. We made several stops today finding Amorphophallus gallowayi, laoticus, myosuroides, and coudercii, several Begonia species, and the stunning silver centered Impatiens morsei, as well as Leucocasia gigantea, and more leeches.
Stayed in Fang Deng (very near Gnommelet).
Fang Deng
We left Fang Deng and drove east toward Vietnam border. Made several stops during the day finding Amorphophallus kachinensis and khammouanensis. Along a stream with large boulders we found the miniature Begonia hymenophyllus with large pink flowers growing in the moss on the boulders. At one of the stops we found lots of Amorphophallus ferruginosus plants growing, with many of them having ripe seed heads.
We returned back to Fang Deng and stayed at the same hotel as last night. Since there was only one restaurant in Fang Deng we had several meals there and the restaurant owners had learned we were serious coffee drinkers so by the second day they were bringing us coffee even before we were out of the van.
The next day we left Fang Deng and drove east toward Thaket, making several stops along the way. We found an Aristolochia species, a couple of Zingiber species, several Begonia species and at least 2 Crinum species. Also seen were Amorphophallus ferruginosus, gallowayi, laoticus, crispifolius, myosuroides, longituberosus, coudercii and Typhonium laoticum. At the second to last stop we found a large caterpillar feeding on the leaflets of Amorphophallus laoticus. Our very last stop of the day before returning to our hotel in Thaket was a cave site. Surprisingly we found a second population of Amorphophallus ongsakulii.
Ban Lao
After a hearty breakfast we departed Thaket and drove north toward Ban Lao. We decided to make a return to the stop we made on our way down, where we found the Amorphophallus croatii to get a few more photographs. We climbed higher up the mountain than we had earlier and found a Globba species in bloom with a white and orange flower, as well as a new species of Amorphophallus.
Since we reached Ban Lao by lunch, we opted to drive back east on HWY 8. We made a few stops along this road finding Amorphophallus brevipetiolatus, schmidtiae, as well as an undescribed species that Petra, Annop and I had found back in 2003.
We returned back to Ban Lao just before dark and located a hotel for the night.
As I was sitting on the steps of the hotel waiting for the other guys to bring out there luggage, a tiny bird flew into a hotel window and fell to the ground unconscious. I picked it up before the local cat could get to it and noticed it was still alive. After about 15 minutes it came back to life and flew off. Turns out the little bird is a Little Spiderhunter (Arachnothera longirostra). We left Ban Lao and drove back to Vientiane, a rather long drive on a road in much need of pothole repairs. Once we arrived in Vientiane, we stayed in a hotel right on the Mekong river. Our driver carried us to a fantastic restaurant for dinner, as it was our last meal together.
Last couple of days
We flew from Vientiane back to Bangkok. Once we arrived in Bangkok, we made our way to the hotel. After lunch David, Derek and I visited Barry Yinger’s nursery – New Life Tropicals where Barry spent the afternoon touring us around his plant collection. As expected he still has a huge interest in variegated plants and probably has one of the largest collections of Sansevieria.
After eating breakfast in the hotel lobby we went to Chatuchak market where we spent several hours walking around looking at plants. This market probably has the greatest number of varied plants for sale anywhere in the world. The afternoon was spent inventorying and cleaning plant material in preparations for inspection.
Since we were some of the first people to arrive at the plant inspection station, we were ‘used’ as the training subjects for some of the new inspector trainees, which caused us to be there until almost noon. Luckily there was a coffee shop right down the street! We made our way back to the hotel for a few hours of rest before the long flights home.
Bjorn and I left the hotel at 7 p.m. for the airport. My plane departed at 10:40 p.m., with Bjorn’s departing about 45 minutes later. David and Derek were able to get a few more hours of rest as their flights did not leave until Friday morning.
After leaving Bangkok, I had a stopover in Seoul and then Atlanta. Since I had several hours in the Atlanta airport I was watching the news of Hurricane Florence that was scheduled to come over Raleigh the same time I was due to land in Raleigh. I was expecting my flight into Raleigh to be canceled, but it took off on time. The landing in Raleigh was one of the roughest airplane landings I’ve ever experienced due to the hurricane winds.
– Alan Galloway