Ficus aurata: External and internal differences between male and female figs

 Suzika Juiling a Postgraduate MSc student  at the Universiti of Sabah, Malaysia holding a fruiting branch of a male Ficus aurata fig tree.

Ficus aurata is one of many fig trees in Borneo where the sex of the tree can be distinguished from the external appearance of the ripe figs.

For the ecological differences between male and female figs see this article.

Photos and information provided by Suzika Juiling and Dr Zainal Zahari Zainuddin.

Male Ficus aurata figs are larger and paler than female figs.

A section through a ripe male Ficus aurata fig showing the male anthers and the fig wasps which have hatched inside the ovaries  of the gall flowers inside the male fig

Ripe female Ficus aurata figs showing seeds. There is no evidence of fig wasps or male anthers

The ripe seeds from a female Fiucs aurata fig.