The size of trees in the Malay Peninsula
This short note by F. W. Foxworthy, published in the Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (Vol. 4, No. 3, 1926), documents the recorded dimensions of the largest trees in the Malay Peninsula, covering both height and diameter/girth measurements.
Foxworthy notes that while Peninsula trees do not approach the dimensions of the largest North American or Australian trees, they are comparable to the largest trees of other eastern tropical regions (p. 382). The tallest recorded tree is a Tualang (Koompassia excelsa) at 265 feet, measured by B. F. H. Barnard with a hypsometer, followed by a Kapur (Dryobalanops aromatica) at 220 feet; the average forest canopy height is a little over 150 feet (pp. 382–383). The largest tree by girth is a Chengal (Balanocarpus heimii) in the Parit Forest Reserve, Kinta District, Perak, at 40 feet 5 inches in girth (154 inches diameter) and an estimated 125 feet to the first branch (p. 383). The article concludes with a table of average and maximum diameters for various species, compiled from valuation surveys conducted over the preceding five years across most states of the Peninsula (p. 383).