This set of photos shows the transition from juvenile to adult leaves in Ficus tinctoria var gibbosa. All photos by Quentin Phillipps taken in Kuching in December 2017 of several different plants.
F. tinctoria var gibbosa is the most common fig in the urban areas of Kuching growing both in parks as a tree or as an epiphyte on buildings
Ficus tinctoria var gibbosa juvenile (bathyphyll) leaves. Many plants in the Moraceae plant family eg Ficus and Artocarpus have distinctively different bathyphyll (juvenile ) or acrophyll (adult) leaves. However the transition may take place at very different ages. With Ficus albipila, Ficus variegata and Ficus tinctoria var gibbosa only the very young sapling leaves tend to be dentate and the transition to adult leaves is very rapid. With many root climbers eg Ficus villosa the leaves only transition when the root climber reaches sunlight in the canopy which may take several years. LHS: Ficus benjamina sapling. RHS: Ficus tinctoria var gibbosa saplingFicus tinctoria var gibbosa sapling with leaves in transition.
Ficus tinctoria var gibbosa adult leavesFicus tinctoria var gibbosa adult leaves
