Ficus superba (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Ficus superba (Miq.) Miq.

Family: Moraceae

Synonyms

• Ficus pritzelii Warb.,
• Ficus subpisocarpa Gagnep.,
• Ficus tenuipes S. Moore.

Vernacular names

• Sea fig (En)
• Indonesia: gedat, jerakah bulu (Javanese), kekalampa (Roti)
• Thailand: krai, sai liap (central), pho sai (eastern).
• Vietnam: sung kiêu.

Distribution

From Japan, Taiwan and China towards Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, the Anambas and Natuna Islands, Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands, Sulawesi (Salayar Island), the Moluccas (Seram) and Australia, but not in the Philippines. Occasionally also cultivated.

Uses

Young leaves are eaten cooked as a vegetable. Leaves are considered a useful forage, even when older.

Observations

• Large deciduous tree, up to 30 m tall, epiphytic when young, with numerous aerial roots.
• Leaves crowded at the apices of stems; leaf-blade elliptical, 12-25 cm × 6-14 cm, pink when young; petiole 4-20 cm long.
• Fruit a fig, pear-shaped, ca. 2 cm in diameter, bluish-purple, in bunches on small woody knobs on the twigs and branches behind the leaves.

On rocky coasts, occasionally a few km inland. A magnificent tree, deserving to be brought into cultivation.

Selected sources

7, 24, 26, 44. vegetables