Ficus lawesii: Introduction

The  herbarium collection shown above which came from the Danum Valley Field Center in Sabah was originally described as a new species  Ficus longistipulata i.e. Fig with long stipules  and the very long narrow stipules are indeed a very distinctive feature of this fig species.

 

 

LAWES’ FIG Ficus lawesii King. (1887)         SECTION CONOSYCEAE

Latin: Named for an English missionary William George Lawes  (1839-1907) who collected plants in New Guinea and was the first European resident of Port Moresby.

Plant: Climber or strangler at canopy level in primary forest.

Leaf: Spirally arranged. Large oval leaf, 6-18cm long x 2.5-7.5cm wide with a petiole (leaf stalk) up to 5cm long.

Fig: Small fig 0.8-1.4 cm,) in pairs (or fours) in the leaf axils. The distinctive fig stalk (peduncle) is up to 1.2cm long.  The figs ripen green to orange green.

Sex: Monoecious.

Similar species: Only five Conosycea stranglers species produce figs with peduncles (stalks). Three of these are bat figs which produce large figs which ripen green. (1) F. annulata (2) F.depressa and (3) F. globosa. The (4^th) F. dubia  is a large fig which ripens bright red. None resemble F. lawesii.

Note that F. lawesii is very similar to F. glaberrima  and they may in fact be  the same species. See this article about F. glaberrima in Sumatra.

Distinguish: The only Conosycea strangler with tiny stalked figs that ripen greenish yellow. For an illustrated  list of spot characters which enable this fig to be distinguished on vegetative features alone see Ficus lawesii:  Sukau Rainforest Lodge 01.

Distribution: A mystery fig with a relict distribution. Widely scattered throughout the forests of  Borneo up to 1,000 m in the hills but generally very scarce. Recently discovered to be relatively common in Kinabatangan flood plain forest at Sukau in Sabah.

Sabah: Palum Tambun river near the Danum Valley Field Centre, Sipitang. Brunei: No records. Sarawak: Sungai Mayeng, Tau Range, 3^rd Division. Kalimantan: Sangkulirang island-presumably one of the many small islands off the coast of the Sangkulirang Peninsula in East Kalimantan.

Range: A rare fig in Borneo and the Philippines. Absent from Sulawesi and the Moluccas but common in New Guinea. Closely related to F. glaberrima which also has a relict allopatric distribution in Sumatra and Java but is curiously absent from the Malay Peninsula and Borneo. See map below from Berg (2005) Pg. 655.