Ficus septica

Ficus septica

''Ficus septica'' is a shrub or tree of the family Moraceae living at low altitudes from northeast India to north Australia , and throughout Malesia. It lives on the edge of the vegetation, often in degraded environments. The seeds of this species are dispersed by numerous species, including fruit bats when present.
Septic Fig male flowers Male flowers exposed inside the fruit. This species is common across Asia. It is called "septic" for its poisonous and corrosive latex which protects it from most herbivores. Fruits remain green when ripe. Fruits are mostly eaten and dispersed by fruit bats.

Borneo has around 150 native fig species and I have documented one third of it with 1StopBorneo Wildlife expeditions. I enjoy documenting figs as they are unique. Their flowers grow inside the fruits and can only be pollinated by specialized fig wasps which enters and breed inside the fruits. Ficus septica,Geotagged,Malaysia,Summer,ficus septica

Appearance

Tree or shrub up to 25 meters. The latex of ''F. septica'' is characteristically yellow. Leaves and petioles are both glabrous. Leaves are symmetric, elliptic to oblong. Figs grow often in pairs but can be solitary or in groups of up to four. Figs are depressed-globose to ellipsoid, the apex is flat or concave. Seven to twelve ribs towards to ostiole. At maturity, whitish to yellowish dots appear on the fig. The individuals from Philippines have their stems covered by short hairs while those found in Taiwan are glabrous.
Common but uncommon A very common tree, am surprised I didn't bother to post observation of them before.  They can be easily be found even in cities and town on road side as their seeds are dispersed by birds feeding on the fruits.

However, this very common plant hides hidden beauties.  After many trips to the island of Palawan, finally found clusters of this plant hosting another yet to be described species of Orthomeria sp. Ficus septica,Fruit,Palawan,Philippines,Tree

Habitat

''Ficus septica'' trees live up to 1800m in montane forests or secondary growth environments. It can be seen often along rivers.

In Taiwan, at the northern limit of its distribution, ''F. septica'' lives up to 500m in secondary growths and along roads and coastlines.''Ficus septica'' is pollinated by fig wasps from the genus ''Ceratosolen''.

Usually members of the genus ''Ficus'' are pollinated by a single species of pollinating fig wasps specific to each fig species, but recent observations of ''Ficus septica'' have shown there to be three pollinating species in the South of Taiwan and two in the Philippines.
Septic Figs A common species of fig across Asia. It is called "septic" for its poisonous and corrosive latex which protects it from most herbivores.  Fruits remain green when ripe. Fruits are mostly eaten and dispersed by fruit bats.

Borneo has around 150 native fig species and I have documented one third of it with 1StopBorneo Wildlife expeditions. I enjoy documenting figs as they are unique. Their flowers grow inside the fruits and can only be pollinated by specialized fig wasps which enters and breed inside the fruits.  Ficus septica,Geotagged,Malaysia,Summer,ficus septica

Predators

The figs of ''Ficus septica'' have been reported to be eaten by 22 animal species and among them 14 are bats:

⤷  Double-eyed fig parrot
⤷  Unspecified fruit dove
⤷  Black-naped oriole
⤷  Northern common cuscus
⤷  Stein's cuscus
⤷  Common spotted cuscus
⤷  Mantled guereza
⤷  Black rat
⤷  Lesser short-nosed fruit bat
⤷  Horsfield's fruit bat
⤷  Greater short-nosed fruit bat
⤷  Indonesian short-nosed fruit bat
⤷  Bare-backed fruit bat
⤷  Lesser naked-backed fruit bat
⤷  Long-tongued nectar bat
⤷  Long-tongued fruit bat
⤷  Broad-striped tube-nosed fruit bat
⤷  Common tube-nosed fruit bat
⤷  Greater musky fruit bat
⤷  Geoffroy's rousette
⤷  Common blossom bat

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Taxonomy
KingdomPlantae
DivisionAngiosperms
ClassEudicots
OrderRosales
FamilyMoraceae
GenusFicus
SpeciesF. septica