Mount Singai in Bau District was settled by BiSingai tribe for almost 300 years before they moved downhill to 14
villages some 40 years ago. They extracted forest products and planted crops in their clearings at the mountain.
The documentation of these plants and impacts of these activities on their composition in the area would be an
interesting discovery. A survey on understory plants at undertaken to determine these information. Two subplots
of 2 m x 2 m were made in each of the 16 plots (50 m by 10m) established along the main trail to the mountain top.
All understory plants including epiphytes were recorded in these subplots. Preliminary results show that a total of
1,148 understory plants comprising of 142 species from 66 families were recorded. Family Selaginellaceae with
174 individuals (15.16% of total) dominates while Apocynaceae with 75 and Euphorbiaceae with 70 individuals
are a distant second and third respectively. Families Verbenaceae, Theaceae, Rhamnaceae and Icacinaceae were
among the 11 families with one individual each and were considered the least. Seedlings of middle to upper canopy
trees with 396 individuals (34.5%) dominate the type of plants recorded. Mosses (Selaginella canaliculata) with
170 individuals (14.8%) form a distant second. Most of the mosses are found at the foothills (62.4%) where the
forest floor is moister. Almost all plants have uses for man apart from their ecological role. About 16% (182
plants) can be used for landscaping or has ornamental value while 10% (112 plants) for other uses (timber, cultural,
and handicrafts) followed by 7% (83 plants) have medicinal values. The remainder 771 plants (67.1%) have
overlapping or combining uses for food, medicinal, landscaping and others. Although the study was only
undertaken along a single trail which traverses through an abandoned settled area and farms, plants at Mount Singai
are considered abundant and that the locals activities and presence have little impact on the plants there. Because it
was discovered that the plots set-up missed more than 15% of the species and 21% of the family, it was suggested
that more or bigger subplots be established to capture most plants. Studies on different trails in Mount Singai are
being planned to understand more on the understory plants there. Further analysis and characterisation on the data
collected as well as information on their distribution and their relationships with some environmental variations in
the area such as soils and microhabitats will also be undertaken