Ficus montana (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Ficus montana Burm.f.

Family: Moraceae

Synonyms

• Ficus quercifolia Roxb.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: uyah-uyahan (Javanese), amis mata (Sundanese), periyeh (Sumatra)
• Malaysia: kesinan
• Thailand: duea din (Chumphon), maduea hin (Nakhon Si Thammarat).

Distribution

Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia (Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan).

Uses

The sweetish fruits are edible. Very young leaves are eaten raw in salads. Leaves are smoked together with opium. The roots are used in a mixture with other ingredients to cure syphilis.

Observations

• Erect or creeping, very variable shrub, up to 2 m long, non-epiphytic.
• Leaves mostly crenate-serrate, 2-26 cm × 1-12 cm.
• Infructescences axillary, with 1-5 fruits.
• Fruit a fig, 8-13 mm diameter, greenish-white to red.

In gullies, hard soils, forest edges, bamboo thickets, teak forests, etc., up to 1300 m altitude. Two varieties have been distinguished.

Selected sources

• Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1963 1968. Flora of Java. 3 Volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands.

• Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2nd ed. 2 Volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.

• Corner, E.J.H., 1965. Check-list of Ficus in Asia and Australasia with keys to identification. The Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 21: 1-186.

• Corner, E.J.H., 1988. Wayside trees of Malaya. 3rd ed. 2 Volumes. The Malaysian Nature Society. United Selangor Press, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 774 pp.

• Heyne, K., 1927. De nuttige planten van Nederlandsch Indië [The useful plants of the Dutch East Indies]. 2nd ed. 3 Volumes. Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel in Nederlandsch Indië. 1953 pp.

• Koorders, S.H. & Valeton, Th., 1894 1914. Bijdrage tot de kennis der boomsoorten van Java [Contribution to the knowledge of tree species of Java]. 13 Volumes. G. Kolff & Co., Batavia.

• Ochse, J.J. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1980. Vegetables of the Dutch East Indies. 2nd ed. Asher & Co, Amsterdam. 1016 pp.

Authors

P.C.M. Jansen, J. Jukema, L.P.A. Oyen, T.G. van Lingen