Kota Kinabalu: Sabah lost a leading and internationally renowned botanist with the passing of Datuk Anthony Lamb on Jan. 31, 2024, at age 86. He leaves behind wife Datin Anthea Phillipps-Lamb and two children.
Tony, as he was best known, left his imprint not just in Sabah, where he helped set up the Tenom Agriculture Park and Orchid Centre during the Berjaya administration and now regarded as one of the best botanical parks in the region and a tourism attraction.
The equally world-renowned Tenom Orchid Centre attracts specialists from Europe and America for ground-breaking taxonomic research.
Impressed with his abilities, the Singapore Government sought his expertise in setting up its now iconic “The Gardens by the Bay”.
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Tony used to take pride in being “the last Colonial Officer from the British North Borneo Government” to make Sabah his home.
Educated at Blundell’s School in Tiverton and St John’s College, he earned his MA in Agriculture from the University of Cambridge, followed by a Diploma in Tropical Agriculture at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad.
Born on July 15, 1937, in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), he arrived in North Borneo in August 1962, a year before it gained independence as Sabah through Malaysia on Sept. 16, 1963.
Assuming the role of Agriculture Officer in Tawau, he served in Lahad Datu and Ulu Dusun in Sandakan, where he served as Agronomist at the Ulu Dusun Palm Oil Research Centre.
Many new fruit crops and ornamental plants available in Sabah today is owed to his over 50 years of working experience in Sabah.
A new species of the orchid genus Dendrobium found in Sabah was named Dendrobium lambii in his honour in 2016. The following year, Dipodium lambii was described in 2017 based on a collection by Lamb.
His intimate knowledge of plant species saw his expertise being sought for over 150 new species, mostly orchids, during his illustrious career.
In 1987, he married Anthea, whom he met at the Agriculture Research Station in Tenom. At that time, Anthea was an ecologist with Sabah Parks, and together with Dr George Argent and Sheila Collenette, they produced a book the Rhododendrons of Sabah (1988).
This was followed by Pitcher Plants of Borneo with Anthea Phillipps and Chien Lee (1996), published by Datuk C.L. Chan’s Natural History Publications (Borneo), with a second edition well received.
Tony was involved in a two-volume edition of the Orchids of Mount Kinabalu, A Guide to the Gingers of Borneo, a co-author in a monograph of Bulbophyllum of Borneo with Jaap Vermeulen and Peter O’Byrne, and in 2016, A Guide to Hoyas of Borneo with Michele Rodda.
Anthony and Anthea were among the consultants for environmental impact studies of the first phase of the proposed Tanjung Aru Eco-Development (TAED) Project under Datuk Victor Paul, particularly on the impact on the population of flora and fauna, given their residence’s vicinity to the TAED project.
As an active member of The Sabah Society, Tony gave his last talk on his book “A Guide to Wild Fruits of Borneo” in 2019, bringing a wide assortment of local wild fruits to be tasted by attendees.
It was a unique lecture experience that only Tony could curate, satisfying the five senses of sight, hearing his lecture, smell, taste, and touching the many exotic fruits at the Sabah Society Talk.
Since retirement, he worked voluntarily with the Forest Research Centre at Sepilok, identifying the orchid specimens in its Herbarium.
Anthea, who shared his passion, was encouraged by Daily Express Chief Editor James Sarda to share her experience and knowledge about the various plants and fruit species found in Borneo in a popular Sunday column aptly titled “Wonders of Borneo” with a view to compiling them into a book for students, researchers and plant lovers later.
The series ran for several years.
Their seafront two-storey 1960s bungalow of about an acre beside the Kinabalu Golf Club, since sold, was a mini botanical garden of sorts surrounded by huge trees not commonly found in Sabah.
The house offered one of the best sunset views.
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