Ficus benjamina: Waxy glands, ants and caterpillars, London UK
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ABOVE: Ficus benjamina growing as a house plant, London UK
(Thanks to Louise Chiu)
Ficus benjamina grows wild in forests from Taiwan and S. China, south to Borneo and west to India. F. benjamina is also one of the world’s most popular house plants.
Nearly all figs have waxy glands usually on the underside of their leaves but on Section Conosycea figs (approx. 30 species in Borneo) it is always a single waxy gland at the base of the midrib on the underside of the leaf.
Note the white wax exuding from a gland on the underside of the leaf of this cultivated Ficus benjamina leaf, growing on a house plant in the UK. The transparent wax is produced continuously.The upper side of the same leaf also showing the stipule.The purpose of producing the wax is to provide a steady continuous supply of food to ants who when they visit the leaves to collect wax will also attack and eat leaf eating insects such as the larvae of moths and butterflies. In the wild you will rarely see large amounts of wax because ants visit to collect the wax continuously.
