Pasar Borneo 2018

Endemic Plants of Klang Gates Quartz Ridge

The Klang Gates quartz ridge system just outside the north-eastern part of the city of Kuala Lumpur and within the state of Selangor in Malaya, is over 14 km long and reaches up to about 380 m high. The narrow wall-like formation of this quartz reef is due to crystallisation of the quartz solution that infilled a large fault in the Main Range granite, with the present feature revealed when the surrounding  weathered material eroded away. This ridge is the most prominent of a series of such ridges in this part of Malaya. 

Current collecting indicates that inventory of the plant life on this ridge remains incomplete since the earlier listings by Ridley (1922) (21 species) and Henderson (1928) (265 species), and a later enumeration by Kiew (1982) (175 species). Many records do not distinguish between an occurrence on the quartz ridge proper and one on the abutting (nonquartz) slopes. Five plant species are known only from the quartz ridge (Reid 1951, 1959; Kiew 1982): Aleisanthia rupestris (Ridl.) Ridl. (Rubiaceae) , Borreria pilulifera Ridl. (Rubiaceae), Eulalia milsumii Ridl. (Poaceae) , Henckelia primulina (Ridl.) A. Weber (Gesneriaceae), and Ilex praetermissa Kiew (Aquifoliaceae).

Ecological aspects of endemic plant populations on Klang Gates quartz ridge,  a habitat island in Peninsular Malaysia, 2008,  K. M. Wong · M. Sugumaran · D. K. P. Lee · M. S. Zahid.,  Biodivers Conserv DOI 10.1007/s10531-008-9522-1