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| Lost tresure : This 'Aquilaria rostrata' has been found in Besut, Terengganu after missing for over a century. |
Thursday, 10 March 2016
PETALING
JAYA: A critically endangered species of agarwood, which has been elusive for
more than 100 years, has resurfaced.
The
Aquilaria rostrata was first discovered in 1911 and was thought to be native
only to Wray’s Camp in Taman Negara, Pahang.
Since then,
nobody had spotted the species.
However, two
Forestry Department rangers found what they suspected to be the elusive species
in April last year in Besut, Terengganu, some 100km away from where it was
first discovered.
Their suspicion
was soon confirmed by a research team in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) led by
associate professor Dr Rozi Mohamed.
“At first,
we thought that it was a new species but after making comparisons with a
100-year-old specimen at Herbarium Botanic Gardens in Singapore, we discovered
that it was the Aquilaria rostrata,” she said in a statement.
Dr Rozi, who
published her findings in Blumen, an international journal on plant taxonomy,
said the tree was found among felled timber in an area of about 700m above sea
level.
“It is not
available anywhere else but only in peninsular Malaysia and is in danger of
extinction,” she said.
Some 50 of
the same species were found in the same area, ranging between 2m and 5m in
height. The trees were flowering and bore fruits. They were not cut down when
found.
UPM Forestry
Management Department head associate professor Dr Mohd Nazre Saleh said the
rediscovery of Aquilaria rostrata was significant to floristic records
everywhere.
“More so now
because the species was discovered somewhere else from where it was originally
found,” he told The Star.
Dr Mohd
Nazre said this particular tree was “extremely rare” and was one of the species
protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora.
He called
for more conservation efforts to “protect and preserve” the tree from being
exploited.
Dr Rozi,
whose study was funded by the Higher Education Ministry’s Fundamental Research
Grant, also agreed that the species should be safeguarded from “unscrupulous
quarters out to get hold of agarwood”.
Aquilaria
rostrata was first discovered in 1911 by H.N. Ridley, with the findings
published in 1924.
The species
is listed as critically endangered under the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature Red List and is believed to have declined due to the
high demand for agarwood.
