The early morning view of Kinabalu from the Hill Cabins at Kinabalu Park HQ.
The forest on Kinabalu has one of the richest plant floras in the world including over 90 species of figs – the highest diversity of figs per unit area in the world. According to the the Ficus collections listed by Beaman and Beaman (2004), Ficus macilenta is the 15 most common fig to be collected on Kinabalu.
Ficus macilenta is found throughout the mountains of Borneo including Kalimantan but is not particularly common. The most favoured habitat is poor soils on ridges exposed to winds and harsh sunlight.Ficus macilenta figs are full of sharp white hairs believed to provide an obstacle to seed predators. The photos of Ficus macilenta above were taken on the hillside behind these cabins at Kinabalu Park HQ.Ficus macilenta grows as a tall shrub. In the photo above it is growing the the middle of the left half of the photo.
