This diversity dwarfs the number of species in Europe – it is estimated that Borneo has 10 times the plant diversity of the Netherlands. 

Peaks of plant diversity can occur in very small areas in Borneo. In Lambir Hills National Park, Sarawak, 1,175 tree species were recorded in a 52-ha plot (the size of about 52 football fields), the highest documented tree diversity in Borneo.

Many of Borneo’s plants are endemic, and are found nowhere else in the world - some 5,000 species (or 34%) of flowering plants found on the island fall in this category, far ahead of neighbouring Sumatra’s 12% of plant endemism.

Plants to challenge the senses

Several of Borneo’s plants challenge the senses - Rafflesia arnoldii, a parasitic species, produces the largest flower in the world, while the titan arum (Amorphophallustitanum) sporadically blooms into the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world. The latter also produces a characteristic fragrance when it flowers, similar to the smell of a decomposing body.

For centuries, Borneo’s inhabitants have been using and trading the island’s plants as food, medicine, building materials and countless other uses. 

Now, pharmacological research is bringing to light new compounds that could achieve medical successes at a global scale. One example is a Sarawak shrub that produces a substance which could kill human cancer cells.

This compound is reportedly effective against 57 of 60 kinds of human cancer cells, and is proving just as effective as the leading anticancer drug, paclitaxel.

Other breakthroughs include compounds found in tree latex which can cure a wide range of HIV strains, and antimalarial substances found in the bark of the langsat tree (Lansium domesticum).