Ficus copiosa (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Ficus copiosa Steudel

Protologue: Nomencl. bot., ed. 2, 1: 635 (1840).

Family: Moraceae

Synonyms

• Ficus magnifolia F. v. Mueller (1863),
• Ficus krausseana Rechinger (1912),
• Ficus longipedunculata Rechinger (1912),
• Ficus polycarpa Roxb.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: wiladan, uya-uyahan (Javanese), ampelas (Sulawesi), gohi (Halmahera), sosa kecil (Ternate)
• Papua New Guinea: kumu mosong (Pidgin), kagua (Raluana, New Britain).

Distribution

From Java, the Moluccas and Sulawesi (Indonesia) to the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, the Palau Islands, Yap and Queensland (Australia). In Papua New Guinea also cultivated.

Uses

Young leaves, buds and shoots are eaten as a vegetable cooked in coconut milk or steam-roasted, especially in Papua New Guinea. Fruits are eaten raw.

In Papua New Guinea, the unripe fruits are chewed to relieve stomach-ache, and the fruit latex is applied to boils. Fresh leaves are used in the Trobriand Islands as a poison antidote; the roots and leaves are used to treat stomach-ache. In New Britain, massaging the stomach with crushed leaves is said to relieve stomach-ache. The bark is used for clothing and ropes.

Observations

• A small to medium-sized tree up to 20 m tall, bole muriculate, bark surface brown.
• Leaves alternate to decussate, crowded at the apices of stems, scabrid by many bristles, especially below; petiole 2-10 cm long; leaf-blade oblong-ovate, 12-25 cm × 6-10 cm, base subcordate to subcuneate, margins coarsely serrate-dentate, apex shortly acuminate, with 6-10 pairs of lateral veins, stipules 1-2.5 cm long.
• Fruit a fig, fascicled on the twigs or borne on the stem and old branches, globular, 1-2 cm in diameter, greenish-brown; flowers with 4-7 tepals, male flowers with 1-2 stamens, female flowers long-stipitate.

F. copiosa is found in both coastal and inland regions, in primary and secondary forest, up to 1700 m altitude. It is also grown in villages as a hedge and pruned to increase branching. Propagation is from seed or cuttings.

Selected sources

• Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1963–1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol.1 (1963) 647 pp., Vol.2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
• Chew, W.-L., 1989. Moraceae. In: George, A.S. (Editor): Flora of Australia. Vol. 3. Hamamelidales to Casuarinales. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, Australia. pp. 15-68.
• Corner, E.J.H., 1965. Checklist of Ficus in Asia and Australasia with keys to identification. The Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 21(1): 1–186.
• Department of Primary Industry, 1983. Leafy vegetables. Farming notes 30. Department of Primary Industry, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. 40 pp.
• French, B.R., 1986. Food plants of Papua New Guinea, a compendium. Australia Pacific Science Foundation. 407 pp.
• Henderson, C.P. & Hancock, I.R., 1988. A guide to the useful plants of Solomon Islands. Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Honiara, Solomon Islands. 481 pp.
• Holdsworth, D.K., 1992. Medicinal plants of the Gazelle Peninsula, New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea. Part I. International Journal of Pharmacognosy 30: 185-190.
• Holdsworth, D.K. & Balun, L., 1992. Medicinal plants of the East and West Sepik Provinces, Papua New Guinea. International Journal of Pharmacognosy 30: 218-222.
• Holdsworth, D.K. & Rali, T., 1989. A survey of medicinal plants of the Southern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. International Journal of Crude Drug Research 27: 1-8.
• Paijmans, K. (Editor), 1976. New Guinea vegetation. Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 209 pp.

vegetables included

Main genus page

• Ficus (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• J.P. Rojo, F.C. Pitargue & M.S.M. Sosef