Ficus sinuata (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Ficus sinuata Thunb.

Family: Moraceae

Synonyms

• Ficus rostrata Lamk,
• Ficus cuspidata Reinw. ex Blume.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: gagareman, peer (Sundanese), sipadi (Sumatra)
• Malaysia: mepai, kesenai.

Distribution

India (Assam), Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia (Java, Sumatra, Borneo).

Uses

The small fruits are considered very tasty.

Observations

• Shrub, often epiphytic, 2-4 m tall.
• Leaves elliptic-oblong to subobovate, 5-20 cm × 2-8 cm.
• Fruit a fig, axillary, subglobose, about 1 cm diameter, orange-red, usually 2-6 together.

In not too dry forest, up to 1500 m altitude. Subspecies cuspidata (Reinw. ex Blume) Corner is less branched and has broader leaves. It occurs only in Malaysia and Indonesia.

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.

Authors

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