THE VASCULAR PLANT FLORA OF BUKIT BATOK, SINGAPORE

A checklist of vascular plant species was compiled for four patches of secondary regrowth forest in the Bukit Batok urban planning area of Singapore Island. In 2012, we sampled five 20 × 20 m vegetation plots within each forest patch, and recorded all vascular plant species, as well as the diameter at breast height (DBH) of all woody stems with a DBH ≥5 cm. The resultant species list was supplemented with information from other surveys conducted in 2013. We recorded 254 species from 91 families. The highest percentage of native species (79.6%) was found in Bukit Batok Hillside Park, while the highest percentage of exotic species (35.3%) was found in Bukit Batok Nature Park. The highest percentage of nationally threatened species was found in Bukit Batok Town Park, where they made up an average of 22.0% of the species in each forest patch. Among the measured stems, Para rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) was most frequent on average, but the rest of the tree community was predominantly native. The patches of secondary forest in Bukit Batok may act as refuges for native species and have conservation value as a consequence.