Georgetown & its suburbs: Trees 3 - SENTANG OR LIMPAGA, the Sabah connection....

Sentang or limpaga found near the Western Rd Cemetry & Taman Jesselton

One of the largest planted trees found along the Western Road is a Sentang tree or Limpaga (as it is call in Sabah) or Ranggu in Sarawak. There are several trees around the vicinity. Two just opposite the one shown in the picture, found along western road, at the junction of brown rd near the Masonic lodge. There are another two behind the western road cemetry along the road to the youth park.

These trees are indigenous to the Borneo island. I'm wondering who might have brought the seeds or seedlings and planted them in Penang some 60 or 70 years ago, probably just before or after the Japanese Occupation.

The seeds from these trees in penang were then taken to south thailand to be planted along the boundaries in rubber estates established there....that's why when the the trees became popular in the early 1990's some malaysians thought they came from thailand...however that myth was soon debunked by the ASEAN Trees Seed Center brochure printed on the species....

Is it a coincidence most of these trees were planted near Taman Jesselton (those of us who born before 1963 know that name was the old name for Kota Kinabalu)... the question is why are the sentang trees not found anywhere else in Penang....was there link here with Sabah...or north Borneo in the past...anyway why was the place called Taman Jesselton...was there any reason....??? and to find that trees indigenous to north borneo there in penang and nowhere else........i'm curious...very curious...