Ficus cucurbitina Maliau Basin Study Centre, 01.JPG
This magnificent fig growing next to the Maliau Basin Study Centre in  central Sabah is  Ficus kerkohvenii a common strangler confined to the wet rainforest of the Malay Peninsula,   Borneo,  Sumatra and Java.  Photos by Anthea Phillipps (tree) Tony Lamb (leaves) and Miyabi Nakabayashi (leaves and fruit). Note the difference in leaves that make up the crown between  the fig at the front and the host tree at the rear.
Ficus cucurbitina Maliau Basin Study Centre, 02.JPG
Ficus kerkhovenii growing in the crown of a canopy level dipterocarp at the Maliau Basin in Sabah. These large stranglers start their growth when an animal such as a hornbill or binturong defecates a seed in the epiphytic sky gardens that occupy the the main fork of many tall forest trees. The fig then drops a root down to connect to the ground. In this photo the main root of the fig appears nearly as large as the trunk of the host tree.

Ficus cucurbitina Maliau Basin Study Centre, 0 4.JPG

Ficus cucurbitina Maliau Basin Study Centre, 05.JPG

Ficus kerkhovenii Maliau Basin Miyabi.JPG
The fallen fruit and stipule  confirm that this fig can only be Ficus kerkhovenii. Photo by Miyabi Nakabayashi.