Ficus consociata leaves and figs from a tree growing next to the Sandakan-Ranau road where it runs next to the Ulu Sapa Payau Forest Reserve at Beluran in central Sabah.
The fig tree (see below) had partially collapsed as often happens with top heavy stranglers.
All photos by Shuai LIAO taken on 13 September 2019. Collection# 20190434
The Ficus consociata collections being loaded for transport back to the Sandakan herbarium for labeling and storage by the SAN team. Some leaf samples will then be sent on to the Morton Herbarium in the USA. These samples will be used in a project to compare the DNA of all the worlds Section Conosycea figs by PHD student Shuai LIAO.
Borneo is the world center of diversity for Section Conosycea strangling figs and hosts an estimated 36 species, approximately half of the known species in the world.