ABOVE: Mount Kinabalu photographed from Kinabalu Park HQ c. 1,500 m in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Kinabalu hosts the most diverse fig flora in the world with some 90 species of Ficus recorded from Kinabalu Park.
Ficus tarennifolia fig fruit are both cauliferous (growing on the trunk) and geocarpic (growing at ground level) here photographed in the Mountain Garden at Kinabalu Park HQ. This small female fig tree has been frequently photographed over many years. These photos were taken by Astrid Cruaud and Jean-Yves Rasplus on 3 March 2011.Ficus tarennifolia is locally common on Kinabalu and the Crocker Range at 1,000-1,500m but so far has never been recorded south of the Sabah border. Therefore this fig is endemic to northern Borneo. The fig seeds are obviously dispersed by ground mammals e.g. rats, pigs and deer.Ficus tarennifolia. The leaves grow at the ends of the branches in whorls.
The leaf arrangement shown in this photo (leaves opposite growing from the same node) is exceptional both for Bornean figs as a whole and probably for Ficus tarennifolia as well.
Of all the 150 Bornean figs only Ficus hispida and Ficus cumingiiare known to have opposite leaves growing from the same node as a standard leaf arrangement.
