From 144 to 201 species – How an orchid enthusiast’s research helped increase the tally of wild orchids in the Penang Hill Biosphere Reserve (PHBR)
Rexy Prakash Chacko, a well-known Penang-born naturalist, author and avid hiker was the recipient of The Habitat Foundation’s (THF) Research Grant in 2021 for the Penang Hill Orchid Diversity Study. This project was conceived from the desire to get a more comprehensive count of the number of wild orchid species that occur in the PHBR. The area of the PHBR has been thoroughly botanised in the past with a tally of Penang Hill orchids prior to Rexy’s study counting 144 species (Go & Farah Alia, 2017). However, during his hikes on the Hill, Rexy kept stumbling upon many wild orchids which were yet to be recorded as occurring in the PHBR. This spurred him to propose the Penang Hill Orchid Diversity Study. Realising the value of this project in improving the understanding of PHBR’s biodiversity and convinced by his research capability and passion for orchids, THF awarded Rexy, a self-taught independent orchid researcher, a grant for this study.
With the grant, Rexy was able to conduct more consistent field surveys to document orchids in the PHBR. These surveys were mostly done in The Habitat Penang Hill, an area exhibiting high wild orchid diversity. Specimens collected during the study were deposited in the Penang Botanic Gardens Herbarium. Apart from field surveys, Rexy also accessed local and regional herbarium records to check if their specimen collections had orchid records from the PHBR area. By meticulously examining these specimens and ascertaining that they originated from areas which constitute the PHBR today, many species that were unintentionally overlooked or omitted from previous studies were rediscovered and added to the tally.
Rexy conducting field surveys and specimen collection in The Habitat Penang Hill.
Rexy used part of the grant for training too.
Even after completing the deliverables of the research grant in 2022, Rexy continued the project on his own, recording wild orchid data from other parts of the PHBR. By the time he concluded his research in 2024, the tally of wild orchids in the PHBR stood at an astonishing 201 species, a 40% jump from the previous tally in 2017 (Chacko, 2024). Part of this jump is attributed to specimen rediscoveries in the herbarium collections, but a whooping 23 species are totally new records to the PHBR from his study, of which one, Tainia trinervis was a new locality record to Peninsular Malaysia. Some of the interesting finds during his study included the discovery of several cryptic and rarely seen mycoheterotrophic orchids like Didymoplexis micradenia, Epipogium roseum and Gastrodia tembatensis. The full checklist published in the Malayan Orchid Review Volume 58 can be viewed here.
Rexy was also the recipient of THF’s Penang Hill Biosphere Reserve Rare Plants Grant in 2023 which enabled him to participate in the 14th Asia Pacific Orchid Conference (APOC) in Singapore. Attending APOC helped him formulate strategies aimed at protecting and conserving PHBR’s rare and threatened orchids. His proposals and mitigation ideas were presented in a workshop and were well received by local government officials, residents and biodiversity stakeholders in the PHBR. Some of his proposals are currently implemented in the PHBR, while others are being considered.
We congratulate Rexy for this great achievement, one that is driven by his passion for orchids and his determination to see these enigmatic plants celebrated and protected.
