Ficus fistulosa. There are about a dozen of these small trees growing in the garden surrounding the Sukau Rainforest Lodge sited on the Kinabtangan floodplain.
Ficus fistulosa figs ripen green/yellow and are dispersed by small Cynopterus fruit bats who fly in the forest unstorey. Bats pluck ripe figs off the tree as they fly past and take the figs to a feeding perch where they pulp the flesh and spit out a wad of fibre. Cynopterus bats also often eat young fig leaves.Ficus fistulosa. These maleĀ figs are at different stages of ripeness showing the changes in shape and colour as they ripen. Male figs become paler and larger as they ripen.Ficus fistulosa. The figs are cauliferous (hang off the trunk) and may even be produced at ground level. Here the figs in contact with the earth are all rotting.Ficus fistulosa, ripe figs and leaves. The open ostiole of the fig fruit indicates that this is a male fig from which the pregnant female wasps have already made their exit.Ficus fistulosa. Leaves from below.
Ficus fistulosa. Leaves from above.
An early morning view from the front deck of the Sukau Rainforest Lodge across the Kinabatangan River.