Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore 70 (Suppl. 1): 49-69. 2018 
doi: 10.26492/gbs70(suppl.l). 2018-04 
49 
Rediscoveries, new records, and the floristic value of the 
Nee Soon freshwater swamp forest, Singapore 
K.Y. Chong 1 , R.C.J. Lim 1 - 2 , J.W. Loh 1 , L. Neo 1 , 
W.W. Seah 1 - 3 , S.Y. Tan 1 & H.T.W. Tan 1 
department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 
14 Science Drive 4, 117543 Singapore 
kwek@nus.edu.sg 
horticulture and Community Gardening Division, National Parks Board, 
100K Pasir Panjang Road, 118526 Singapore 
herbarium, Singapore Botanic Gardens, National Parks Board, 
1 Cluny Road, 259569 Singapore 
ABSTRACT. The unique plant communities of the freshwater swamp forests of southern 
Johor (Malaysia) and Singapore attracted the attention of E.J.H. Comer, but there have been no 
comprehensive follow-up studies to his seminal work. Meanwhile, freshwater swamp forests in 
the region have been mostly lost to logging and in-filling for plantations or urban development. 
The Nee Soon catchment contains the last substantial tract of this forest type in Singapore. We 
collated the rediscoveries of vascular plant species presumed Nationally Extinct in the 2 nd and 
latest edition of the Singapore Red Data Book, and new records for the Singapore vascular 
plant flora from the Nee Soon catchment, including those that we found and collected through 
the establishment and survey of 40 vegetation plots, each 20 x 20 m. We have identified 672 
species from 117 families, of which 288 are trees from 60 families represented by at least one 
stem > 5 cm DBH. The catchment is especially species rich and abundant in the Myristicaceae. 
In the last ten years, 53 rediscoveries, 11 new species records, and two new varietal records 
have been uncovered from (or can be found in) the Nee Soon catchment. The Nee Soon 
freshwater swamp forest is one of Singapore’s most valuable botanical areas, and warrants 
sustained conservation effort and study. 
Keywords. Floristic value, freshwater swamp forest, new records, rediscoveries 
“...pockets of vegetation remain and from these botanists may pick up and extend 
where I, perforce, have withdrawn.” 
E.J.H. Corner (1978: 1) 
Introduction 
In a supplement of this journal in 1978, the eminent botanist Edred Jo hn Henry Corner 
described his observations on the unique freshwater swamp forests in the far south of 
Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. Most of his observations and collections were 
made from opportunities provided by the felling of such forest in the 1930s. This 
