Ficus pachystemon (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Ficus pachystemon Warb.

Protologue: K. Schumann & Lauterb., Nachtr. Fl. Schutzgeb. Südsee: 242 (1905).

Synonyms

• Ficus mangiferifolia Lauterb. & K. Schumann (1901) non Griffith,
• Ficus brassii Summerh. (1929) non Sabine,
• Ficus aechmophylla Summerh. (1933).

Vernacular names

• Papua New Guinea: wawaina (Rabagi, New Britain).

Distribution

New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago.

Uses

In New Britain, leaves are chewed and swallowed to relieve diarrhoea. The bark is used for clothing.

Observations

• A shrub or small to medium-sized tree up to 20 m tall.
• Leaves arranged spirally to subdigitate, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 9-21 cm × 1.8-6 cm, base cuneate, apex attenuate to subacute, margin entire, with (9-)11-19 pairs of lateral veins, glabrous, stipules 2-5.5 cm long.
• Figs axillary, paired, sessile, subglobose to ellipsoid, 12-16 mm in diameter, glabrous, ripening through white, yellow, pinkish-orange to red; flowers with 3-4 tepals, male flowers dispersed, tepals free, stamen 1, female flowers sessile, tepals fused at base.

F. pachystemon is found in lowland forest, commonly on river banks and in stony river beds.

Selected sources

• [281] Corner, E.J.H., 1965. Check-list of Ficus in Asia and Australia. Gardens' Bulletin, Singapore 21: 1-186.
• [603] Holdsworth, D.K., 1992. Medicinal plants of the Gazelle Peninsula, New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea. Part I. International Journal of Pharmacognosy 30: 185-190.

Main genus page

• Ficus (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• J.P. Rojo, F.C. Pitargue & M.S.M. Sosef