Distinguishing Ficus superba and Ficus virens

Comparison of Ficus superba and Ficus virens

	Ficus superba	Ficus virens
Distribution	Coastal E. Malaya, east to Ceram ex. Sumatra and Borneo	Sri Lanka to S. China to Australia
Overlapping distribution	Virens overlaps Superba throughout	Virens overlaps Superba throughout its range
Petiole length	4-20 cm	2-8 cm
Fig peduncle	07-1.5 cm on spurs	Sessile 0 – 1 mm on spurs
Hairs inside fig	Yes	No
Resting stipule	Conical terminal bud covered in woolly white hairs	Conical terminal bud brown, rough but hairless
Flushing stipule	Yes	Yes
Twig width	5-12 mm	2-5 mm
Side veins pairs	7-10	7-14
Fig ripe color	Black with pale spots	Grey/pink with dark spots
Fig size	1-1.5 cm	0.4- 1 cm
Leaf size	25 x 13.5 max	20 x 9 max

In summary, Ficus superba and Ficus virens are closely related and look very similar. However Ficus virens is very widespread and relatively common whereas Ficus superba is relatively rare and generally restricted to small islands and coastal forest. The leaves , figs, leaf stalks and fig stalks of Ficus superba are all longer or bigger than those of Ficus virens. In particular the twigs of Ficus superba are twice as thick as those of Ficus virens.

Ficus virens occurs in all the localities where Ficus superba grows such as Singapore but not in the same habitat. F. superba prefers rocky offshore islands whereas Ficus virens can be found both in parks and forests.