Ficus adenosperma Miq.

Moraceae

Miquel, F.A.W. (1868) Annales Musei Botanici Lugduno-Batavi : 233. Type: Celebes boraelis, in distr. Menado nec non Ternate et Amboina .. TEYSMANN. Ceram; DE VRIESE.

Riverine Fig; Fig; Fig, Riverine

Not a strangling fig, bark exudate yellowish cream, rapid and copious.

Leaf blades about 6-17 x 3-7 cm, fairly distinctly 3-veined at the base. Stipules about 1.8-2 cm long. Younger leafy twigs slightly hairy and older twigs with brown, scaly or flaky bark. Petioles and twigs produce a slightly yellowish milky exudate. Oil dots visible with a lens, more obvious on the underside of the leaf blade.

Male flowers: Flowers produced around the ostiole. Female flowers: Flowers rather similar to the gall flowers. Style lateral on the ovary. Stigma +/- globose, surface papillose. Bracts at the base of the fig, three. Lateral bracts not present on the outside of the fig body.

Figs pedunculate, globose or depressed globose, about 9-10 x 9-10 mm. Orifice closed by interlocking apical and internal bracts.

Cotyledons very small, almost orbicular, about 2-3 mm long. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade narrowly elliptic, apex acuminate, base auriculate, glabrous on the upper surface; oil dots visible with a lens; stipules linear-triangular, sheathing the terminal bud. Seed germination time 18 to 56 days.

Occurs in NT, CYP, NEQ, CEQ and southwards as far as coastal central Queensland. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 450 m. Normally grows as a rheophyte on creeks flowing through well developed rain forests in NEQ but grows on river banks in more open situations in NT. Also occurs in Malesia, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

Ficus adenosperma var. glabra Corner, The Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 18 : 28(1960), Type: Kajewski 2480, Guadalcanal Isl., herb. Leiden. Ficus depressa Benth., Flora Australiensis 6: 172(1873), Type: Queensland. Mount Elliott, Fitzalan. Ficus adenosperma var. chaetophora (Warb.) Corner, The Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 18 : 28(1960). Ficus frutescens F.M.Bailey, Queensland Agricultural Journal Series 2 1: 276(1914), Type: Bellenden-Ker Creek and Harveys Creek, E.W. Bick. Feb., 1914.