CELEBES FIG Ficus celebensis Corner (1960) SECTION SYCIDIUM
Alternative English names: Willow Leaved Fig, Weeping Fig.
Latin: Celebes is the previous name for Sulawesi.
Plant: Shrub to small tree to 5m (Section Sycidium group) with long narrow leathery leaves. The only Sycidium which grows as a tree. Normally sycidiums grow as shrubby lianas. Very rare in the wild. Occasionally grown as an ornamental outside the natural range in Sulawesi. Not native to Borneo where it may be planted as an ornamental tree in landscaping projects
Fig Fruit: Small fruit with a distinctive stalk or peduncle. See illustration.
Similar species
Frequently mistaken for the juvenile ornamental form of Ficus maclellandii, which itself is often labelled as Ficus binnendijki (sometimes spelt Ficus binnendykii ).
House Plant: In Europe the juvenile ornamental form of Ficus maclellandii, is a common house plant usually wrongly labelled Ficus binnendykii . Numerous different cultivars with variegated yellow/green leaves and very long narrow leaves are sold as house plants in Europe.
Ficus celebensis is endemic to Northern Sulawesi. In the wild it is extremely rare, known only from a few collections from Menado on the Minahassa Peninsula (the most northern arm) of Sulawesi.
Waxy Glands: Corner (1960) first recognized Ficus celebensis as an unusual member of the climbing figs in Section Sycidium from the fact that the underside of each leaf has a single waxy gland in the axil of one the basal lateral veins. Typically all Conosycea figs have a single waxy gland on the petiole (leaf stalk) on the base of the underside of the leaf. See below for examples of this single waxy gland at the base of the leaf of a closely related species found in Borneo- Ficus rubrocuspidata.
