ABOVE: Ficus heteropleura – note the net like tertiary veins.

BELOW: Ficus parietalis –note the ladder like tertiary veins

Ficus parietalis 303607
Ficus parietalis. Note the relatively straight basal veins which run away from the leaf margin and the ladder like tertiary veins.

Ficus heteropleura and Ficus parietalis  are 2 very similar Section Sycidium figs  often found in similar roadside or jungle edge habitats either growing as small shrubs or epiphytes.

These two figs are often confused but very easily distinguished from each other by the differences in the prominent veins on the underside of the leaf.

Ficus heteropleura  tertiary veins  are reticulate (net like).

Ficus parietalis tertiary veins are scalariform (ladder like).

Both paintings  above are from Plantillustrations.org 

Both black & white drawings  below are by Corner (1976) Climbing Species of Ficus Derivation and Evolution 

 

Ficus heteropleura Corner (1976).jpg

Ficus parietalis Corner (1976).jpg