Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Ficus triradiata Corner


Tree
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Leaves and figs. © CSIRO
Figs, side views and cross section. © W. T. Cooper
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
Cotyledon stage, epigeal germination. © CSIRO
10th leaf stage. © CSIRO
Male flowers, anthers opening on one suture. © CSIRO
Male and female flower. © CSIRO
Male & female flowers. © CSIRO
Family

Corner, E.J.H. (1960) The Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 17: 401. Type: C.T. White 10536, Mt. Spurgeon; holo: BRI.

Common name

Fig, Red Stipule; Red Stipule Fig; Fig

Stem

A strangling fig. Dead bark orange, yellow or khaki when cut. Exudate rapid and copious.

Leaves

Petioles and twigs produce a milky exudate. Looping lateral veins forming a fairly distinct intramarginal vein with another 1 or 2 indistinct veins closer to the margin. Stipules frequently red, about 3-7 cm long. Leaf blades about 6-14 x 2-6 cm.

Flowers

Male flowers dispersed among the fruitlets in the ripe fig. Anthers +/- reniform. Bracts at the base of the fig, three, persistent in the ripe fig. Lateral bracts not present on the outside of the fig body.

Fruit

Figs sessile or very shortly pedunculate, globular or depressed globular, about 20-30 x 20-30 mm. Orifice a triradiate slit, closed within the body of the fig by inflexed, but not interlocking, internal bracts.

Seedlings

Cotyledons orbicular, about 5-8 mm diam. First few pairs of leaves toothed. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade lanceolate to ovate, apex acute, base obtuse to cordate, glabrous, triplinerved at the base; oil dots not visible; petiole glabrous; stipules sheathing the terminal bud, about 15-30 mm long, falling early. Seed germination time 14 to 23 days.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to NEQ, restricted to the area between Cooktown and Mt Molloy. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 1300 m. Grows in well developed rain forest on a variety of sites.

Synonyms
Ficus triradiata Corner var. triradiata, The Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 17 : 401(1960). Ficus triradiata var. sessilicarpa Corner, The Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 17: 401(1960), Type: Brass 20052, Mt. Finnegan, 850 m. alt.; holo: BRI; iso: L. SING.
RFK Code
570
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