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Ficus tarennifolia: Kinabalu Mt Garden, March 2011

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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.

Kinabalu World Centre of Fig Diversity

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 cumingii are known to have opposite leaves growing from the same node as a standard leaf arrangement.

Ficus hispida: Introduction

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