Ficus racemosa, Shangri-la Tg Aru Resort, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo

uluulublog

9 years ago

ABOVE: The building with the red roof is the Shangri-la Tanjung Aru Resort at Tanjung Aru beach, a public park in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. In the background is Pulau Sulug, one of five islands in the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park opposite Kota Kinabalu, in Malaysian Borneo.

This fine example of *Ficus racemosa* is growing in the car park of the Shangri-la Tanjung Aru Resort, in Kota Kinabalu. It is very unusual to find this fig growing in towns. Normally *F. racemosa* is a common fig of river banks throughout Borneo.

The ripe red figs of *Ficus racemosa* also known as the Red River Fig. Local names for this fig are **Nunuk Ragang** (Dusun/Kadazan) or Tangkol (Orang Sungai) .

Ficus racemosa fruits almost continuously throughout the year with a crop ripening every six weeks. In between these major fruiting episodes there are always a few ripe fig fruits on the tree. The fruits of this tree in the car park of the Shangrila Tg Aru resort are eaten by small fruit bats at night. The fruit of river bank trees are eaten by whiskered catfish after they fall into the river .

*Ficus racemosa*. Notice the tiny black female fig wasps (which have previously mated in their birth fig) crawling over the surface of this new unripe fig looking for the ostiole, the hole at the base of the fig so that they can enter and lay their fertile eggs inside. The females then die. Two weeks later just before this fig ripens a new crop of female fig wasps will emerge from the ostiole and fly off to find another unripe fig in which to lay their eggs.

*Ficus racemosa.* The reason that *Ficus racemosa* always has some ripe figs on the tree is probably to ensure that the local population of fig wasps does not die out. Fig wasps breed in the figs and leave before the figs become ripe and are eaten so if there are are a wide range of fig fruit at different stages available the fig wasp population can breed and recycle continuously without leaving the same tree.

The tiny fig wasps present in the photo above are the new crop of females emerging just before the fig ripens and gets eaten by a fruit bat.

Ficus racemosa leaves. The small narrow pointed leaves distinguish this fig from the other figs in Borneo with cauliferous figs such as Ficus variegata.

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