Appearance & recognition
This tall fig tree has spreading buttresses and dense clusters of pear-shaped figs on its trunk and large branches. Ripe figs become green with reddish streaks. Flowers are concealed inside these fig structures, called syconia. Male and female flowers occur on different trees, so what looks like a simple fruit crop begins with a specialised reproductive system.
Sources & references · 1
National Parks Board Singapore · Ficus variegata — Flora & Fauna WebLife in the ecosystem
The fig wasp Ceratosolen appendiculatus pollinates the enclosed flowers. Birds and mammals eat the ripe figs, linking a tiny insect’s work with larger forest animals. The species grows in lowland forest and more open forest margins. Ficus fistulosa also fruits on its trunk, but has hollow young twigs and different fig-wasp partners.
