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Ficus variegata, Nexus Resort, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

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Ficus variegata growing next to the access road to the Nexus Resort, Karambunai, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. This is an unusual variety of F. variegata  because the  young fig fruit of F. variegata normally  start of green and turn red when mature. However, the fig fruits of this tree start off bright crimson red, later ripening green.

The white trunk with large buttresses typical of  Ficus variegata. However notice the small bunch of cauliferous red fig fruits  in the middle of the trunk.
Ficus variegata. The young fruit are normally green but on this individual dark crimson red.
The mature fruit  become more green as they ripen.
All leaves and fruit from the same tree
The seeds in the cut fig fruit indicate that this is a female tree. Also the fact that both immature and ripe fruit are present on the same tree (over lapping crops) indicates that this is a female tree. The fruit crops of male trees do not overlap.

The access road to the Nexus Resort runs along the base of the large hill that backs the resort. This hill was originally a rubber estate now abandoned to  mature secondary forest. This hill is very rich in  several species of figs including Ficus drupacea, Ficus variegata, Ficus fistulosa, Ficus  heteropleura, Ficus callosa and Ficus tinctoria var gibbosa.  The resort itself has a fine avenue of  an ornamental variety of Ficus benjamina. When these figs are fruiting you can expect to see Pied Hornbills  in the area .
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