This fruiting Ficus virens was originally collected from a nearby oil palm plantation due to be felled for replanting with young palms.
A cutting was planted at SFGC in April 2013 nearly 11 years ago.
This fig tree first fruited in 2022 and again in 2023 .
The first major fruiting was February 2024.
The experience at SFGC is that figs take more or less around 10 years to fruit.
As many hundreds of fig trees have been planted at SFGC in the last 12 years, from now on every year it is predictable that more and more figs will come into fruit.
In 10 years time it is likely that very large numbers of figs will be fruiting every month providing a major source of food to the gibbons, orangutans and hornbills at Tabin Wildlife Reserve. Note that orangutan in the phots is eating unripe figs which means that they get the pick of the crop before gibbons and hornbills arrive to feed on the ripe figs.
Thanks to Dr Zainal, Melinda and the team at SFGC for photos and information.
