A list of the ferns of the Malay Peninsula
H. N. Ridley, the long-serving Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, published this comprehensive checklist of 382 fern species recorded from the Malay Peninsula in 1908, following the taxonomic arrangement of Beddome’s Ferns of British India. The work synthesizes collections from Scortechini, Day, Kunstler, Hullett, Bishop Hose, Curtis, and earlier collectors such as Wallich and Cuming, while flagging large tracts of the peninsula—particularly the northern states and the east coast lowlands—as still largely uninvestigated.
Summary
Ridley opens by situating the Malay Peninsula as a wet tropical forest region where ferns are both species-rich and individually abundant, forming conspicuous features in forests and damp open ground. He notes that the plain country of the west coast and the Thaiping Hills were probably well known by this date, but the hill-ranges of Selangor and Pahang and the low country of the east coast had been only partially searched, mainly by himself. The northern states bordering Siam had been “hardly investigated at all” and were expected to yield many additions (p. 1).
The bulk of the article is a species-by-species checklist organised by family and genus, with each entry giving localities, collector names, elevation notes, and a brief distribution statement. Ridley intersperses ecological observations throughout: Gleichenia linearis (“Resam”) covers vast tracts of forest edge and burnt ground in dense, impenetrable thickets; Pteris aquilina is described as “probably the most widely distributed and abundant of any vascular plant in the world”; Dipteris Horsfieldii forms close masses on sea-coast cliffs and clay banks above 2000 feet; and Lygodium species (“Ribu-Ribu”) are so abundant climbing over bushes that they are twisted into ropes for ballroom decoration (pp. 2–3). He also records that the richest localities are wet, densely forested hills between 1000 and 5000 feet, while drier woods are characterised by Schizaea, Lindsaya, and Nephrodium species, and that at high elevations thin-textured ferns are replaced by more coriaceous, xerophytic forms such as Dipteris, Matonia, and Oleandra (pp. 3–4).
A notable section on uses documents the ethnobotanical significance of several species: Stenochloena palustris (“Lamiding”) and Anisogonium esculentum (“Paku Anjing”) are eaten as potherbs; Pleopeltis Phymatodes fronds, when dry, exhale a coumarin odour and are placed among clothes as a perfume; the golden hairs of Cibotium Barometz are sold as a styptic under the name “Penawar Jambi” and even exported to Europe; and Drynaria quercifolia ashes are applied to the abdomen in cases of miscarriage (pp. 5–6).
Key Findings
- 382 fern species are recorded for the peninsula, with Ridley confident the number “will be very largely increased by further discoveries” given the unexplored areas in the centre and north (p. 1).
- Approximately 40 species are identified as endemic to the peninsula, never collected elsewhere; these include Gleichenia Norrisii, Alsophila Ridleyi, Alsophila Kingii, Aspidium Kunstleri, Aspidium tricuspe, Lastrea Ridleyi, Nephrodium Ridleyi, Pleopeltis Wrayi, and Trichomanes malaccense (pp. 5, 7–47).
- Six species occur in the British Isles—Trichomanes radicans, Hymenophyllum Tunbridgense, Pteris aquilina, Lastrea Thelypteris, Polystichum aculeatum, and Adiantum Capillus-veneris—illustrating the extraordinary cosmopolitan distribution of fern spores (p. 5).
- Acrostichum aureum persists far inland from its original tidal habitat; Ridley documents a large clump in the Singapore Economic Gardens where the original river has been dry land for as long as records exist, with nipa fruits in the surrounding soil as evidence of former tidal reach (p. 3).
- Davallia triphylla, once considered so rare that few European herbaria held a specimen twenty years earlier, is in fact “by no means a rare plant” but simply grows only on the topmost boughs of trees 100–150 feet high, making collection difficult (p. 4).
- Lecanopteres carnosa and Pleopeltis sinuosa possess rhizomes modified into ant nests, analogous to the rubiaceous Myrmecodia; Ridley notes the paradox that P. sinuosa, despite its thick succulent rhizome, is among the first epiphytes to die during a short dry spell (p. 4).
Conclusion
Ridley’s definitive takeaway is that the fern flora of the Malay Peninsula is both remarkably rich and still far from fully known. The 382 species represent a snapshot constrained by the limits of early twentieth-century fieldwork, with the northern states and east coast lowlands essentially untouched. The work serves as both a taxonomic baseline and an explicit call for further collecting, particularly in the unexplored interior and northern border regions.
Context
- The article was published in the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (Vol. 50, No. 60), the principal scholarly outlet of the colonial-era Straits Settlements scientific community, and reflects the institutional role of the Singapore Botanic Gardens as the region’s centre of botanical research.
- Ridley acknowledges Dr. Christ of Basle for species identifications and Surgeon General C. T. Matthew, who used his ship’s short port stays in Singapore to collect ferns in the local forests, underscoring the collaborative, multi-institutional nature of colonial-era botanical work in the region.