Morning bash at Titiwangsa mossy forest

Rising before the sun, we drove to an open barren dumping ground doubled up as a parking spot,  marched through a path bordered by tall grasses,  drove away a pack of wild dogs,  waited for the first ray before scrambling up a slope and eventually entering a cool dark mossy forest....

 The ground was soft and moist and littered with terrestrial herbs....

like Medinilla (an epiphyte on fallen branch) - M. clarkei ?

Platanthera angustata, a highland terrestrial orchid - we saw this everywhere but could not get a good flower to photograph.

  

 

This one I have absolutely no idea .... is the flower coming from those leaves or it that a saprophyte ?

 

 

This ginger with its characteristics stilt roots and erect yellow inflorescence is Geostachys densiflora. It is endemic to the Titiwangsa Range and is deemed vulnerable due to extensive developments.

   

.... its rather horticultural but alas, a cool grower.

Another cool growing ginger - Camptandra ovata

  Different types of mosses on the ground ....

Hymenophyllum - the familiar filmy ferns of the elfian forest, draping the trunks.

 

Xiphopterella hieronymusii, a fern confined to montane forests in Peninsula Malaysia and Thailand. I have seen a similar lowland species in Leyte which I should have checked the spore patterns.

Many epiphytic orchids, but only 2 flowering :This one is  Dilochia cantleyi, also confined to highlands....

The inflorescence is really stunning !

A tree trunk full of Coelogynes ....

This one appears to be C. radicosa

And the charming Rhododendron malayanum. This was first described by William Jack from specimens collected in Sumatra - as to why it turned out not to be a "sumatranum" was not known. This widespread Vireya can also be found in the lowlands. 

And this is another mystery plant at the edge of the forest, in more open space. It appears to be some kind of horsetail growing on a tree, or perhaps an aberrant Psilotum nudum - a parasite from mistletoe family (Viscaceae) has also been suggested.

Still unsure what this can be ....

 

Near  the edge of the forest, we met another lovely Nepenthes sanguinea ....

and its a lady !

Medinilla scortechinii (?)

The largest specimen I have seen for this SE Asian native was actually grown in a botanical garden in Europe. It was a tall shrub smothered with inflorescence.
Most plants offered locally are grown in 12" pots with only 1 or 2 inflorescence and I have no idea they could be so spectacular. Its possible also they could be cooler grower and hence less vigorous in the lowland.

Like its relative Medinilla magnifica, the inflorescence are pendulous while the wild species in a previous post are errect. Another obvious difference is the leaf shape, and possibly the leaf venation of which I was unable to observe in detail due to inaccessability of the wild plants.

Addenda
As pointed out by Mr Luther which I later verified from a quick search, Medinilla scortechinii has orange inflorescence so this plant was obviously mislabelled in the garden. I do not have any keys to Medinilla identification, so I can only offer possible IDs - pendula and speciosa being two of them.
Cheers.

Highland Scrub habitat

A walk at Ulu Kali, 1500m asl .....

Misty morning with slope of full of Medinillas

.... perhaps Medinilla speciosa but cannot really confirm

....the highland tree fern Cyathea contaminans

.... a fig tree with trunk covered by orange lichen....

.... the beard lichen Usnea sp

....Lichen colonies side by side ...

.... at the exposed ridge, an unknown creeper

....flowering Oberonia ancepes, a common orchid with interesting foliage

.... flowers of the bamboo orchid here are almost double the size of those in lowland

a stand of terrestrial Bamboo orchid Arudina graminifolia at disturbed open ground with resam

....another ground orchid - the bright yellow Spathoglottis aurea only grows in the highland. At the lowland, it is replaced by lilac coloured S. plicata.

....this plant is very ornamental with nice widely opening flowers.