Menara (tree)

{{Short description|Yellow meranti tree in Sabah, Malaysia}} {{Infobox tree | name = Menara | image = Climbing on Shora faguetiana to verify its height and diameter.jpg | image_caption = Jamiluddin (Unding) bin Jami climbing the tree in January 2019 to verify its (A) height and (B) diameter above buttress. The tree is a ''Richetia faguetiana'', located in the rainforests of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. | image_size = | binomial = ''Richetia faguetiana'' | height = {{Convert|97.58|m|ft|abbr=on}} | girth = {{Convert|6.65|m|ft|abbr=on}} | coordinates = | map = | map_size = | relief = }}

'''Menara''' is the name of a yellow meranti tree (''Richetia faguetiana'') found in the Danum Valley Conservation Area, in Sabah, Malaysia. It was measured at {{convert|97.58|m|ft|abbr=on}} from the average ground level at the base of the tree, and {{convert|100.8|m|ft|abbr=on}} from the lowest point on the trunk, which ranks it as the world's tallest known living tropical tree<ref name = "frontiers_paper">{{Cite journal|last1=Shenkin|first1=Alexander|last2=Chandler|first2=Christopher|last3=Boyd|first3=Doreen|last4=Jackson|first4=Tobias|last5=bin Jami|first5=Jamiluddin|last6=Disney|first6=Mathias|last7=Majalap|first7=Noreen|last8=Nilus|first8=Reuben|last9=Foody|first9=Giles|last10=Reynolds|first10=Glen|last11=Wilkes|first11=Phil|last12=Cutler|first12=Mark|last13=M. Van Der Heijden|first13=Geertje|last14=Burslem1|first14=David|last15=Coomes|first15=David|last16=Patrick Bentley|first16=Lisa|last17=Malhi|first17=Yadvinder|date=2019|title=The World's Tallest Tropical Tree in Three Dimensions|journal=Frontiers in Forests and Global Change|language=English|volume=2|doi=10.3389/ffgc.2019.00032|issn=2624-893X|doi-access=free|hdl=2164/12435|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref name="m067">{{cite web | title=Yellow Meranti 'Menara' in the Danum Valley in Danum Valley Conservation Area, East Malaysia, Malaysia | website=Monumental trees | date=2021-04-22 | url=https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/mys/eastmalaysia/sabah/21083_danumvalley/ | access-date=2024-12-14}}</ref><ref>nst.com.my / [https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2019/04/476097/uk-scientists-find-worlds-first-100m-tall-tropical-tree-danum-valley UK scientists find world's first 100m tall tropical tree in Danum Valley], By Olivia Miwil - 4 April 2019</ref> and was the tallest known tree on the Asian continent until a taller South Tibetan cypress was found in the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon in 2023.<ref>livescience.com / [https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/plants/asias-tallest-tree-discovered-hiding-in-the-worlds-deepest-canyon-in-china/ World's deepest canyon is home to Asia's tallest tree - and Chinese scientists only just found it], by Lydia Smith / 21 June 2023</ref> The research team, working with Southeast Asia Rainforest Research Partnership (SEARRP), named the tree "Menara", which means "tower" in the Malay language due to its towering height.

Menara was discovered in August 2018. A research team scanned the tree in August 2018 with a terrestrial laser scanner and drone flights to produce a 3D model.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/lidar-uav-model-of-menara-b828f4569ab14188b07c9609511330b7|title=LiDAR + UAV Model of Menara|accessdate=2019-09-30|date=2019-09-30}}</ref> On 6 January 2019, Unding Jami and his team established a measurement for the tree by climbing it and measuring its height using a tape measure. Menara is the second-tallest flowering plant in the world, slightly shorter than the record holder, the Centurion tree, a ''Eucalyptus regnans'' in Tasmania that is 100.5 m tall.

Menara weighs nearly 81,500 kilograms not counting its roots; 95% of this mass is located in the trunk, while 5% comes from the 40 meter-wide crown. The stem is extremely straight, with its center of mass at 28 m above the ground, which is just 0.6 m off from the central vertical axis. This indicates that the tree is highly symmetrical and well-balanced, even though it is sitting on a slope.<ref name = "frontiers_paper"/> Researcher Yalvinder Malhi stated in Mongabay that Sabah is a good place for trees to grow tall due to an absence of severe storms, hence the states nickname "the land beneath the wind".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cannon |first=John |date=April 7, 2019 |title=Climb confirms that the world's tallest tropical tree tops 100 meters |url=https://news.mongabay.com/2019/04/climber-verifies-that-tallest-tropical-tree-topping-100-meters/ |access-date=26 February 2024 |website=Mongabay}}</ref>

In 2020, Pos Malaysia Berhad release a stamp set featuring Menara. The set also includes a miniature sheet 18 centimetres in length, making it the largest stamp ever released by Pos Malaysia. <ref>{{cite web |date=2021-01-05 |title=Towering wonder stamps its mark |url=https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/metro-news/2021/01/05/towering-wonder-stamps-its-mark |accessdate=2021-01-15 |website=The Star}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{cite web |last1=Jami |first1=Jamiluddin |last2=Piñeda |first2=Naomi Larsson |title=Experience: I climbed the tallest tropical tree in the world |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/apr/03/experience-i-climbed-the-tallest-tropical-tree-in-the-world |website=The Guardian |date=3 April 2026}}

Category:Individual trees in Malaysia