Textures, from a basket (barait) made by Dusun weavers around Kinabalu Park. The framework of the basket shown in the background of the Viewpoints section is made from Calamus ornatus (Arecaceae), a robust rattan palm which grows in primary dipterocarp forests of Malaysia, Indonesia, Phillipines and Southern Thailand.

 The baskets are woven with the stems of a weedy species of Lygodium, a climbing fern common in lowland secondary forests. Barait were originally made from Calamus caesius (Arecaceae), but the design and materials are changing as a response to increasing scarcity of this rattan in areas where there are high rates of deforestation and intensive harvesting of the cane. 

    Baskets made from C. ornatus and Lygodium require less labor than those made from C. caesius, and are in demand by tourists who visit the region. Increased marketing of these baskets is now leading to scarcity of C. ornatus in some weaving communities, and to substitution with other rattan species.

A house for mushroom cultivation in Kiau, Malaysia made with Metroxylon sagu thatch

Leaves, from the thatch of a house used for cultivating mushrooms in Kiau, a Dusun community around Kinabalu Park in Sabah, Malaysia. The thatch is made from the leaves of Metroxylon sagu (Arecaceae)

   The palms around Kinabalu Park have been a special focus of the Projek Etnobotani Kinabalu, an ethnobotanical program coordinated by Sabah Parks, the state conservation agency, in collaboration with the Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation (IBEC) of the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), and the WWF-UNESCO-Kew People and Plants Initiative, with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. In creating the PEK, these partners proposed to develop activities that contribute to:   

1. ethnobotanical research, focused on building a team of local Dusun people, park personnel and visiting researchers who study patterns of Dusun classification, management and use of plants; 
2. conservation of pristine areas, by developing the ability of park personnel to assess the ecological, cultural and economic importance of locally used botanical resources and by strengthening links between the park research staff and Dusun communities; 
3. environmental education, by providing research and training opportunities for students from Malaysia and other Asian countries and by enriching interpretive programs and exhibits for the more than 200,000 people who visit the park every year; and 
4. community development, through improving the management of unprotected forests in buffer zones around Kinabalu Park and promoting the viability of Dusun ecological knowledge.   

The project is now being extended to Crocker Range Park, also in Sabah. Contact: Datuk Lamri Ali, Director, Sabah Parks, P.O. Box 10626, 88806 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia; Tel. +60.88.221228, Fax +60.88.221001

Seeds? No, these are pellets of sago, the starchy food produced from the stem pith of Metroxylon sagu and other palms in Southeast Asia and Polynesia. The Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari described how it was made during his visit to Sarawak, Malaysia in 1865:

      ‘The operation of “tindjak,” or washing, is performed by placing the pith in the mat or basket, and treading it steadily with the bare feet while an assistant pours water over it from time to time. Even the pails used for this purpose are constructed from the sago palm. They are conical in shape, and are made from the thin laminar and coriaceous portion of the base of the fronds where they encircle the stem. 

This method of treading the baskets with the feet causes the stuff expressed to be carried off by the water through the meshes of the mat or basket, and to collect in a vessel placed beneath, which is usually a small canoe. Here it settles down, and after the water has been drained off constitutes what the natives call “lamanta.” After it has been dried and reduced to a granular form (pearling) it becomes the sago we all know.’ 

From: Beccari, O. 1986[1904]. Wanderings in the Great Forests of Borneo. Oxford University Press, Singapore. 

    This book, full of descriptions of the natural history and cultures of Malaysia, was reissued as part of the series called Oxford in Asia Hardback Reprints. Contact: Oxford University Press Pte. Ltd., Unit 221, Ubi Avenue 4, Singapore 1440.

    Narayan P. Manandhar has carried out research on plants used in human and veterinary medicine in various parts of Nepal, including the Chitwan, Dhading, Gorkha, Kabhrepalanchok and Myagdi districts. A recent article on medicinal herbs of Myagdi district reflects his approach and the changing landscape of his native Nepal. He notes: ‘... the use of herbal medicine has declined rapidly along with the depletion of forest. 

    Andau Pendiling, some 60 years old, is from Himbaan, Bundu Tuhan, a community which borders the southern part of Kinabalu Park in Sabah, Malaysia. Many people from Bundu Tuhan and other Dusun communities work in the Park as staff scientists, naturalists and guides.

It is Bertholletia excelsa Humb. & Bonpl. (Lecythidaceae), commonly called Brazil nut or Pará nut in English, and nuez de Brasil or castaña in Spanish. Native to the Amazon, it is an important source of income for local people in several Latin American countries. The edible brazil nut of commerce is the oily endosperm of the seed, which is covered with a woody testa. Many seeds are found inside the large woody fruit, which matures over a period of 14 months. Most brazil nuts are collected from wild trees.