Ficus subulata  growing on an oil palm at  Kg Semundoh, Tongod in central Sabah.  Where oil palm estates adjoin natural forest in Borneo epiphytic or hemi-epiphytic figs  frequently establish in the hollows  provided by the cut leaf bases on the oil palm trunk.

F. subulata is often misidentified as a Section Conosycea strangler with large leaves  but F. subulata  never grows very large and never strangles, normally living as bushy epiphyte in the understorey of primary forest.

Three distinctive features are clearly illustrated in this article. (1) The needle like stipules  and (2) The large corrugated (bullate) leaves   in which the side veins are prominent but sunken down (impressed)  into the surface of the leaf. (3) The leaf base is always more or less uneven sometimes with a small  ear or auricle. This is typical of Section Sycidium fig species  but never occurs with Section Conosycea fig species.

All photos by Shuai LIAO taken on 12 September 2019. Collection #20190422

07 Ficus subulata Tongod, Kg. Semundoh●20190422★ Shuai LIAO-LSL_162405 Ficus subulata Tongod, Kg. Semundoh●20190422★ Shuai LIAO-LSL_1624.JPG

08 Ficus subulata Tongod, Kg. Semundoh●20190422★ Shuai LIAO-LSL_1624

01 Ficus subulata Tongod, Kg. Semundoh●20190422★ Shuai LIAO-LSL_1624.JPG

02 Ficus subulata Tongod, Kg. Semundoh●20190422★ Shuai LIAO-LSL_1624.JPG03 Ficus subulata Tongod, Kg. Semundoh●20190422★ Shuai LIAO-LSL_1624.JPG