KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): Prolonged drought and minimum daily temperatures are factors that trigger intermittent mass flowering in the country, says a Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) study. FRIM director-general Dr Ismail Parlan said the institute's field research station in the Pasoh Forest Reserve in Negri Sembilan has been studying flowering cycles since 2001 under a seed and seedling distribution monitoring project. "The study showed the phenomenon occurred irregularly, between one to 10 years, and was recorded in 2002, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2019. This year, mass flowering was followed by mass fruiting for 50% to 60% of the dipterocarps at the FRIM campus in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur, and the seeds were collected by FRIM’s Seed Technology Laboratory for cultivation. FRIM’s research into the phenomenon was presented at the second Greening Malaysia Campaign webinar series themed "Mass Flowering of the Malaysian Rainforest: Capitalising on the Event for Mass Production of Planting Materials" on July 30.

Source: The Star September 21, 2021 03:20 UTC