Inventory of Indonesian native montane trees for environmental support and space ornaments in Cibodas Botanical Garden

Abstract

Nowadays, many urban outskirts which are commonly characterized by natural environment have changed into built environment including in the mountainous zones. In many cases, however, the use of plant species as recommended by policy makers for restoring the urban outskirts does not match with the local environmental settings that often causes failure in achieving the desired healthy environment. The objective of this study was to select and carry out inventory of suitable trees for improving the environmental settings in mountainous zone. Trees selection was conducted by gradual screening procedure, based on the plant collection in Cibodas Botanical Garden, specifically for Indonesian native trees. Tree inventory was performed based on core ecosystem functions such as shading function, soil adsorption capacity and aesthetic value. The results indicated that at least 125 trees species are suitable for shading function, such as Dipterocarpus cornutus, Castanopsis spp. and Cinnamomum spp. For soil adsorption capacity, 211 species were recorded, such as Canarium hirsutum, Magnolia spp. and Litsea spp., and for the aesthetic values, there were 237 recorded species, such as Garcinia spp., Lithocarpus spp. and Ficus spp. Certain trees have more than one function, such as Agathis dammara which is suitable for all functions, or Elaeocarpus spp. which is appropriate for soil adsorption and aesthetic function. These results are expected to be used as initial reference for tree selection within the framework of restoration of local mountain environment quality.