Poonsak Watcharakorn, 63, has the biggest collection of Licuala palms in Thailand. But he is far from satisfied. “I want to have the biggest collection not just in Thailand, but in the world,” he said.
“There are about 150 species of palms in the genus Licuala. To date I have 90 species in my collection. All I need is 30 more to attain that distinction.”
He added that the first 50 species might be easy to obtain. Reaching the 100-mark would be a feat as some species get more difficult to find; more than that and it would be next to impossible. “I’ve given myself two years to obtain my goal of 120 species,” he added.
Licuala is a large genus of palms found mostly in tropical countries, from East India and across the Malesian floristic region (comprising the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, the Philippines and the extensive group of islands stretching from Sumatra to New Guinea) to the Solomon Islands in the Pacific.
Passion: Collector Poonsak Watcharakorn says the jungles are his playground.
In his book, Thai Plant Names, revised in 2001, the late taxonomist Tem Smitinand identified 15 species native to Thailand. They occur mostly in the South, in a diversity of habitats ranging from the understorey of rainforests (Licuala triphylla) to peat swamp forests (Licuala paludosa) and even in moist coastal areas and river banks (Licuala spinosa).
The species in this genus are distinguished by their attractive fan-shaped leaves, giving them the generic name fan palms. The leaves of some species are split into segments, or shaped like pinwheels, but some have undivided individual leaves that are round or diamond-shaped.
If a collector has money and the right contacts, he may be able to buy every species available in plant nurseries around the world. But Mr Poonsak prefers to collect his plants from their natural habitat. By doing so, he is familiar with their needs and successfully grows them in his nursery.
A native of Narathiwat province, Mr Poonsak feels at home in the Budo-Sungai Padi mountain range and his collecting grounds include the Sankala Khiri Mountain Range, which serves as a natural border between Thailand and Malaysia.
“My father was a surveyor and since I was six years old he often took me to the forests with him when he was surveying for tin,” he said. “As a young man I went to the jungle to hunt animals, but when I fell in love with plants I gave up hunting animals and switched to hunting plants instead.”
He claims to have discovered countless native species which are the forebears of many plants in cultivation today. Citing an example, he said the mother plant which the late plant breeder Sithiporn Tonavanik used to develop the first aglaonema hybrid with a pinkish tinge came from him. “I collected it in the Budo mountain range in Narathiwat,” he said. He still grows specimens of his original plant and Mr Sithiporn’s creation at his home in Chanthaburi province.
Mr Sithiporn’s success inspired other Thai plant growers to follow his example. In 1999, another breeder succeeded in creating the world’s first completely red aglaonema by crossing a native plant and a coloured species collected in the Sumatran jungle by Indonesian botanist/plant breeder Gregory Hambali. A Chinese Malaysian collector bought the new hybrid for half a million baht, prompting Thai breeders to create hybrids in many different colours. Aglaonema has since been improved upon ceaselessly and continuously, resulting in the creation of the many cultivars that gardeners enjoy growing today.
When he was in his late teens, Mr Poonsak’s elder sister took him with her to the US, where she lived, so he could study there. “During my free time I worked as an attendant at a petrol station to earn pocket money,” he said. Missing the jungle which had become so much a part of his life, he returned to Thailand after less than two years in the US.
For years he worked at Nongnooch Gardens, for whom he led plant collecting expeditions to the southern mountain ranges that he knew so well. He left seven years ago and started his own plant nursery specialising in fan palms. Nongnooch Gardens is known for its wide collection of palms from all over the world, but where fan palms are concerned, Mr Poonsak is in a league of his own.
Meanwhile, for those of you waiting for the Kaset Fair: It is being held at Kasetsart University now until Saturday, February 6.
Email: nthongtham@gmail.com
