grow it is common. Ecology The preferred habitat of the palm is a low, stunted, small-leaved, upper montane forest, sometimes called an 'elfin forest', on exposed ridges. The palm can be found growing at 900 to 1,400 metres, in some sheltered areas to 1,500 metres, in altitude. The stunted nature of the forest in this area of the Gunong Tahan is due to an underlying outcropping of quartzite, resistant to weathering, which cause the soil in this area to be composed of a layer of peat several feet thick, and nothing else upon the bedrock. It is moist in these montane forests. Here the stiff crowns of Tahan serdang grow as emergents, and are a significant, even dominant, part of the canopy here. There are wild elephants up on this mountain, and they destroy the plants by eating the cabbages and hearts of the palm. Conservation It is likely naturally restricted in distribution, but it is common where it occurs. Because it is an endemic species, in 1998 the conservation status was assessed for the IUCN Red List, this being assessed as 'lower risk, conservation dependent'. It was not evaluated in the Malaysia Plant Red List, published 2010. References tahanensis Endemic flora of Peninsular Malaysia Trees of Peninsular Malaysia Conservation dependent plants Taxonomy articles created by Polbot