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Type
F: Selangan Batu Forest
The following is an excerpt of JED Fox's PhD
thesis. The article stays fairly true to the original with minor changes. Most
measurements are changed to the Metric System.
This type is the “Hill Dipterocarp Forest” in the
sense of Symington (1943) and is
present in the higher hills or on steep slopes at lower elevations within a
matrix of one or the other of the preceeding lowland Types. Forests dominated by
Dipterocarpus species and with
Richetia abundantly representing the genus
Shorea, which occur on leached sandstone hills, are reserved for Type
G, though distinction between F and G is sometimes uncertain.
Gunung
Rara
As suggested above, the Type is often found at higher
elevations than Type E, and is present in most hilly
areas, with elements present on hills within areas already classed in a preceding
type. Data from plots established at 490–690 m on the Tanjung
Formation in Gunung Rara FR showed that although a wide range of species are
present, it should be noted that both Parashorea and Dryobalanops are scarce,
and that species of the group Selangan Batu have increased in numbers and
species. S. leptoclados, Eusideroxylon
and Hopea nervosa are all absent and
elements of the higher level forests, i.e. Upper
Dipterocarp Forest of the general classification scheme are present.
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Elsewhere
Reference has been made to the presence of this Type
in Mandalom FR. In this area, Ochrosia glomerata is exceptionally common as an understorey plant
associated with S. laevis. The range
of altitudinal occurrence of the type in Mandalom is 460–760 m. Tristania
whiteana is an associate of S.
laevis on ridges in the Crocker Range and in Gn Lumaku FR. Selangan Batu forest occurs on the upper slopes of a sandstone hill at Pinawanti,
Kudat District where it is represented by S.
laevis, S. hypoleuca, Hopea beccariana and S. smithiana. It is also found on the ridges and hill crests in the Sir
James Brooke Range and in the Timbang Batu Hills. At the latter
locality S. laevis is found with Hopea
semicuneata, Irvingia malayana, Castanopsis hypophoenicia, and Lithocarpus
conocarpus. Similarly S. laevis
and S. obscura are found with Fagaceae
above the P. malaanonan/Dr. lanceolata
type in Mt. Templar FR. The hills east of Sipitang and behind Mesapol
largely contain Type F forests and local occurrence at comparatively low
elevations have been noted in the hills behind Tawau, e.g.
S. laevis on tuff in the 1967 coupe of Tawau Native Special License and also
on hills above the Merotai Besar river, in the same area.
A small area in Block 82 of Silabukan FR where
S. laevis was locally abundant on a
broad ridge, with S. leptoclados
nearby was surveyed by relascope in the 1964 (A.R.R.B. 1964). Other species of
the selangan Batu group found in forests comprising this Type include S.
inappendiculata, S. maxwelliana, S. foxworthyii and
the hill form of S. superba.
The Selangan Batu forests are of less commercial
value, by present day standards, than the other forest types and stands of S.
laevis are often left behind, or only partially exploited when they are
encountered within Types A, B, C , D, or E.
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