Ficus cucurbitina, (11 years old) fruiting at the Sabah Ficus Germplasm Centre (SFGC) in Tabin, Sabah.
This fig tree was first collected as a sapling from the trunk of a local oil palm at Tabin and then planted in the ground.
As this individual F. cucurbitina is quite vigorous, multiple marcots and cuttings have been taken from this same individual to grow elsewhere.
The mother tree is now c. 5 m tall.
Shown below are photos of two of these marcots which are are only 8 months old but are fruiting simultaneously with the parent tree.
This confirms multiple reports from other ficus growers that marcots tend to fruit simultaneously with the mother tree.
Therefore marcots can be used to obtain early fruiting.
However, this advantage of marcots is not necessarily desirable for wildlife who need a constant supply of food all year round not seasonal fruiting. Thus Ficus grown from seeds should always be included in any re-winding project to ensure genetic diversity.
Thanks to Mellinda Jenuit, Dr Zainal, Ronald and the team at SFGC for information and photos
