Ficus hispida is a small tree, widespread in secondary forest from India south to N. Australia. In Borneo F. hispida is confined to seasonally dry forest in east Borneo. The individual photographed in this article was photographed in the Princess of Wales Conservatory in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, in London, U.K. where it fruits almost continuously.
Ficus hispida is the only fig in Borneo in which the leaves grow opposite each other. All the other Bornean figs NEVER have opposite leaves- a very useful distinguishing feature. Note that successive leaf pairs grow at right angles to the leaf pairs above and below on the same twig (decussate).Ficus hispida stipule. All parts of this fig tree, the fig fruits, the branches and the leaves are covered in hairs which leads to the common name of Rough Leaf Fig.
Ficus hispida, under surface of the leaves. The tertiary venation on the under surface of the leaf is clearly scalariform (ladder like)Ficus hispida at Kew Gardens. Notice the waxy glands at the junction of the leaf blade (lamina) and leaf stalk (petiole). In the wild this gland produces food for ants which encourages ants to visit the leaf and protect the plant from leaf eating insects such as butterfly and moth caterpillars.Some of the fig “branchlets” hang off the trunk at ground level and the figs are lying on the soil. It is easy to see how the 9 species of earth figs evolved in Borneo.