2263

8: Vegetables

Ficus superba (Miquel) Miquel

MORACEAE

Sea fig (En). Indonesia: jeraka bulu, gedag (Java), keka lampa (Roti). Thailand: krai (Bangkok), sai-liap (southern). Vietnam: sung ki[ee]u.

From Japan and China throughout South-East Asia to Australia, but not in the Philippines. Occasionally also cultivated.

Young leaves are eaten cooked as a vegetable. Leaves are considered a useful forage, even when older.

Large deciduous tree, up to 30 m tall, epiphytic when young, with numerous aerial roots. Leaves crowded at the apices of stems; leaf-blade elliptical, 12—25 cm x 6—14 cm, pink when young; petiole 4—20 cm long. Fruit a fig, pear-shaped, ca. 2 cm in diameter, bluish-purple, in bunches on small woody knobs on the twigs and branches behind the leaves. On rocky coasts, occasionally a few km inland. A magnificent tree, deserving to be brought into cultivation.

[7]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.
[24]Corner, E.J.H., 1965. Checklist of Ficus in Asia and Australasia with keys to identification. The Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 21(1): 1–186.
[26]Corner, E.J.H., 1988. Wayside trees of Malaya. 3rd edition. 2 volumes. The Malayan Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
[44]Heyne, K., 1927. De nuttige planten van Nederlandsch Indië [The useful plants of the Dutch East Indies]. 2nd edition. 3 volumes. Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel in Nederlandsch Indië. 1953 pp. (3rd edition, 1950. van Hoeve, 's-G

M.H. van den Bergh

Van den Bergh, M.H., 1993. Ficus superba (Miquel) Miquel. In: Siemonsma, J.S and Piluek, K (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 8: Vegetables. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea