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SANDAKAN: Researchers from Sabah Forestry Department’s Forest Research Centre (FRC) collaborated with Australian colleagues to document and name a giant species of tropical pitcher plant, Nepenthes pongoides, found in the ultramafic mountains in central Sabah. 

The species was named after orangutan, whose scientific name is Pongo, inspired by the plant’s striking resemblance to the great ape’s long, dark, rusty-red hair, according to a statement.

FRC’s Alviana Damit partnered with Dr. Alastair Robinson, an authority of the genus Nepenthes based at Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, to locate and document this plant in its natural habitat, having secured the necessary permits required to climb and sample plant material from the strictly access-controlled mountains where it grows on. 

The Chief Conservator of Forests, Datuk Frederick Kugan, pointed out that such discovery would enhance biodiversity conservation efforts in Sabah.

Though new to science, the extraordinary plant was first photographed during a 2004 expedition. 

It went unrecognised as a new species owing to the limited perspective of the two pictures, only coming to the attention of botanists in 2018, when a handful of new photos revealed details that told Nepenthes experts that it was likely an unknown species.