Ficus bracteata (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Ficus bracteata (Wall. ex Miq.) Miq.

Protologue: Moraceae

Vernacular names

• Malaysia: getah taban rimba (Peninsular).

Distribution

Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia (Sumatra, Kalimantan).

Uses

The latex coagulates to a substance with characteristics similar to gutta-percha. The timber is soft and rather light, pale reddish-brown, splitting easily.

Observations

Strangling fig-tree containing latex; young branches, stipules, leaf undersides and figs covered with red-brown woolly hairs. Leaves alternate; petiole 3.5 cm long; blade oblong, 22-28 cm × 10-12 cm, base cordate, apex bluntly pointed, secondary veins 7-9 pairs, 3-veined at base, veins prominent below, inconspicuous above. Inflorescence a fig, arranged in sessile clusters with large persistent bracts, depressed globose, orange. F. bracteata grows in lowland forest.

Selected sources

11, 26, 27, 36, 45.