Ficus consociata (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Ficus consociata Blume

Protologue: Moraceae

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: karet binasah (Sumatra, Lampung), kiyara kowang (Sundanese), kayu ara seher (western Kalimantan)
• Malaysia: pianggu antan (Peninsular)
• Thailand: sai-yai (south-eastern).

Distribution

Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia (Peninsular), Singapore, Indonesia (Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan).

Uses

The latex contains a large amount of resin which destroys most of the elasticity that its rubber might have. Nevertheless it used to be an important source of rubber in Indonesia. A certain variety (var. murtoni King) was cultivated in southern Sumatra for rubber tapping because wild trees there had been tapped to death. It is stated that the bark is very rich in tannin and that the bark cloth is suitable for binding books.

Observations

Strangling epiphytic fig when young, gradually turning into a large tree, up to 40 m tall with trunk diameter of 2 m, containing latex; all younger parts usually densely covered with crisp hairs or patently brown pilose, gradually becoming glabrescent. Leaves alternate; petiole 2-5 cm long; blade elliptical to obovate, 10-22 cm × 4-10 cm, base rounded to cordate and 3-veined, apex acuminate, secondary veins in 5-10 pairs, prominent below. Inflorescence a fig, usually occurring in pairs in the axils of higher leaves and subtended by 3 large, ovate-acute bracts 1.5 cm long; fig depressed-globose, up to 1.5 cm in diameter, red-orange. F. consociata occurs in humid lowland forest, up to 1000 m altitude; it is rare in Java. In Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra the usual variety is var. murtoni .

Selected sources

5, 11, 23, 26, 27, 36, 42, 45.