KUALA LUMPUR: The public have been advised to identify types of trees and location suitability to ensure that any trees planted can grow well and have a longer life span, thus ensuring the success of the 100 Million Tree-Planting Campaign 2021-2025.

       Head of floral biodiversity at the Forest Biodiversity Division of the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) Dr Richard Chung said the choice of tree species should be suitable for the planting area, benefit the ecological environment and help conservation efforts.

       He said for large areas, the planting of just one or two species of trees should be avoided.

       “Instead, planting a variety of tree species will help create a more stable environment.

       The choice of species must meet the purpose of planting and land suitability, including prioritising local tree species, fast-growing trees which require minimum care, deep roots, suitable soil conditions, less leaf, branch or fruit fall and no poisonous fruits.

       “Many are interested in planting forest tree species in their garden without realising that these trees will cause maintenance problems like uncontrolled growth or trees that can damage public amenities,” he said in a statement yesterday.

       The 100 Million Tree-Planting Campaign 2021-2025 was launched in January and is part of the Greening Malaysia programme. It aims to conserve the country’s biodiversity and improve the quality of the natural environment and rivers.Chung said tree species could be identified through their natural habitat or field and herbarium features.

       He added that the natural habitats found in the country included hill dipterocarp forests, upper hill dipterocarp forests, mountain oak forests, mountain ericaceous forests, marine swamp forests, peat swamp forests, freshwater swamp forests, riparian edge forests, coastal forest, swamp forests and limestone forests.

       “The field characteristics used to identify the trees are the shape and colour of the tree canopy, the nature and colour of the tree trunk, the surface and colour of the tree bark, colour, rubber, arrangement and smell of the tree bark.

       “The herbarium features used to identify tree species are the characteristics and types of leaves, flowers and fruits that need to be evaluated to accurately identify the species of the tree,” he said. — Bernama