The leaves of a Ficus pumila liana growing at the rear of the Sabah Muzium building in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The lower branches (top of the photo) are smaller and denser than the leaves growing higher up on the fruiting branches (bottom of the photo). This is typical of many root climbing figs in Borneo. The smaller leaves of the lower branches are known as bathyphyllsand the larger leaves of the upper branches are known as acrophylls.
Anthea Phillipps photographing the fruit and acrophyll leaves of Ficus pumila at the Sabah Muzium in Kota Kinabalu. This liana fruits prolifically but the figs are sterile ( no seeds) because there are no pollinating fig wasps in Borneo of the species that pollinates Ficus pumila. For most figs the relationship is one to one (obligate). One species of fig wasp to one species of fig-so they cannot survive without each other.
