Across Asia's vast rainforests, scientists continue to explore the physical limits of tree growth using advanced remote sensing technologies.

Located deep inside the Danum Valley Conservation Area of Malaysian Borneo, a giant Shorea faguetiana has long been recognized as the world’s tallest tropical tree and the tallest flowering plant on Earth.

In April 2026, GreenValley International joined a scientific expedition into the ancient rainforest ecosystem to conduct a new high-precision LiDAR survey using advanced UAV and mobile laser scanning technologies.

The goal was not only to precisely measure the giant tree, but also to digitally reconstruct the surrounding forest ecosystem with unprecedented detail.

From Looking Up to Digital Reconstruction

Large-scale UAV LiDAR surveys were carried out across the rainforest canopy, generating highly detailed 3D point cloud data of the forest ecosystem.

Using advanced workflows including:

• Ground point classification

• Height normalization

• Individual tree segmentation
  

  
  

researchers were able to analyze tree heights across the entire forest structure with remarkable precision.

The survey identified:

• 118 trees taller than 70 meters

• 26 trees taller than 80 meters

Among them stood the rainforest giant once again.

How Do You Define the Height of a Tree?

Precisely measuring a giant rainforest tree is more complex than it may appear.

After identifying the target tree, the team integrated UAV LiDAR and handheld LiDAR workflows to digitally reconstruct the tree from the forest floor to the canopy crown.

The final survey measured the Shorea faguetiana at:

    98.3 meters

when measured from the seed point at the base of the tree.

To compare with historical measurement standards, the team also referenced earlier methodologies that measured from the lowest buttress root point. Under this approach, the tree reached:

    102.5 meters

The previous historical record measured the tree at 100.8 meters.

The species belongs to the Dipterocarpaceae family and remains one of the flagship species of Southeast Asia’s lowland tropical rainforests.

The latest survey confirms that the tree continues to be recognized as:

• The second tallest tree in Asia by species
  

• The world's tallest tropical tree

• The tallest flowering plant on Earth

A Digital Archive of a 130-Million-Year-Old Ecosystem

The Danum Valley Conservation Area is widely regarded as one of the oldest and most intact tropical rainforest ecosystems on Earth, with forest history dating back more than 130 million years.

Within this approximately 438 km² protected rainforest live extraordinary species including:

• Orangutans

• Clouded leopards

• Bornean pygmy elephants
  

  
  

Beyond documenting a single tree, the large-scale LiDAR dataset generated during the expedition provides an important scientific foundation for:

• Rainforest conservation

• Biomass estimation
  

• Forest structure analysis

• Carbon sequestration research

By combining advanced remote sensing technologies with high-precision digital reconstruction, projects like this are helping scientists better understand rainforest ecosystems while creating long-term digital archives for conservation and sustainable management.

Nature spent millions of years shaping these forests.

With LiDAR, we can now document them with unprecedented precision.