ABOVE: Ficus pallescens growing on a tall durian tree host in Temburong, Brunei. This fig tree was covered in ripe fig fruits in April 2019. All photos by Arlene Walshe.
This fig tree was originally thought to Ficus virens (which is much more common in Borneo) when first discovered. However the orange arrows pointing to the green awl like stipules indicate that this is clearly a Section conosycea strangler. Ficus virens is in Section conosycea where the stipules are short brown and stubby.
The orange circle shows the canopy of the Ficus pallescens fig which is BELOW the canopy of the host durian tree. The blue circle shows where the Ficus pallescens seed first arrived on the host tree- probably defecated by a bird. The sapling fig then dropped down an aerial root which established again in a knot hole (red circle) about 4 m below the blue circle.From the red circle the fig then dropped down another aerial root which eventually reached the ground at the back of the durian tree host.Fruiting branches arise from both the first (blue) and the second (red) establishment sites. F. pallescens is not a strangler and typically grows as an epiphyte with one or two large roots reaching the ground.
