An earth fig with unusual looking fig fruits photographed at Gem’s Lodge, Bario Highlands, Sarawak by Astrid Cruaud & Jean-Yves Rasplus on 14 April 2007.
The appearance of the leaves and fig fruit is closest to Ficus stolonifera but also shows some similarities to Ficus subterranea another earth fig.
It is believed that of all the Bornean figs the earth figs in Section Sycocarpus possess the lowest dispersal potential for both seeds and pollinating fig wasps. Therefore earth figs are more likely to be geographically and genetically isolated from figs of the same species leading to genetic drift and a higher level of morphological variation -compared with other Bornean figs. This hypothesis has yet to be proven and will require the DNA testing of a large number of earth figs over a wide range.
