MUD FIG Ficus limosa C. C. Berg (2004) SECTION SYCOCARPUS
Latin: limosa translates as muddy or dirty or slimy. Berg (2004) notes that on all the specimens he has seen in herbariums there are traces of silt or river mud.
Habit: Small rheopytic tree growing on muddy river banks along lowland rivers in western Sarawak only.
Leaf: Hairy, oblong leaves with 6-10 pairs of side veins, 2 -6 cm wide x 5-16 cm long.
Fig: The green figs which grow in clusters from the trunk ripen green/grey. The figs are covered in raised lenticels ( small protuberances ) giving the surface a very rough appearance.
Distinguish: Berg notes that this fig is obviously related to F. obpyramidata an introduced cultivated species occasionally grown in home orchards in Sarawak.
Distribution: A very rare Borneo endemic confined to the banks of muddy lowland rivers in western Sarawak. The TYPE was collected by Peter Ashton at Nanga Sepulau, Segan, Sarawak. S22036.
Ashton (2019) A Botanist in Borneo
More recently photographed by Astrid Cruaud and Jean-Yves Rasplus at Sungai Paku in SW Sarawak.
