Ficus chartacea (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Ficus chartacea (Wall. ex Kurz) Wall. ex King

Family: Moraceae

Vernacular names

• Speckle-leafed fig (En)
• Malaysia: ara padi, rami hutan, buah sungai
• Thailand: duea nok, maduea thet (Trat), maduea hom (Chanthaburi).

Distribution

Burma (Myanmar), southern China, Indo-China, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia (Sumatra).

Uses

In Malaysia the tough bark is twisted into rough cordage.

Observations

A shrub or small dioecious tree, up to 12 m tall. Leaves spirally arranged; stipules lanceolate, 0.3-1 cm long; petiole 1-3 cm long; blade elliptical, 7.5-15 cm × 2.5-6 cm, base symmetrical-cuneate, apex acute, with 4-6 pairs of lateral veins, glabrous, with cream-white or yellow dots on upper surface. Fruit a syconium, axillary or borne on twigs below the leaves, clustered or in pairs, globose, 6-8 mm in diameter, with 3 tiny basal bracts, when ripening yellow or orange-brown turning scarlet. In Malaysia F. chartacea is found from lowland to montane forest, especially in cleared areas. In Borneo it is recorded from lowland forest, often along streams.

Selected sources

20, 28, 29, 161, 194.

Authors

M. Brink, P.C.M. Jansen & C.H. Bosch