Record Number
2264
PROSEA Handbook Number
8: Vegetables
Taxon
Ficus tinctoria Forster f.
Family
MORACEAE
Synonyms
Ficus gibbosa Blume, Ficus parasitica Willd.
Vernacular Names
Humped fig tree (En). Indonesia: kijajawo, pereng, panggang (Java). Papua New Guinea: tagataga (Pidgin). Philippines: baleting-bato (Tagalog), biri, laban (Bisaya). Thailand: krang (central), sai-dam, hai (northern). Vietnam: sung b[aaf]u, sung b[uj]i.
Distribution
From India and China to Polynesia, throughout South-East Asia, being the most widely distributed Ficus species.
Uses
Young shoots are eaten cooked or roasted, especially on New Ireland. Fruits are said to be edible. The bark is rich in tannin and suggested for making bark-cloth for binding books.
Observations
Large tree, up to 45 m tall, epiphytic when young, developing many slender aerial roots from the trunk together with many host-strangling basketing roots. Leaf-blade narrowly elliptical, 8—21 cm x 2—9 cm, generally unequally sided and distinctly angled; petiole 0.5—1 cm long. Fruit a fig, subglobose, ca. 1 cm in diameter, orange. Often on rocky sea coasts, in primary and secondary forest, up to 1200 m altitude. The species is very variable and is sometimes divided into 4 subspecies: ssp. tinctoria (from Taiwan, through the Philippines, the Moluccas, Sulawesi and New Guinea to Polynesia); ssp. gibbosa (Blume) Corner (Thailand, Indo-China, Malaysia, Java, Sumatra); ssp. parasitica (Willd.) Corner (Sri Lanka, India, Burma, Indo-China); ssp. swinhoei (King) Corner (Taiwan, the Philippines).
Selected Sources
[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.
[20]Burkill, I.H., 1935. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2 volumes. Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, United Kingdom. 2402 pp. (slightly revised reprint, 1966. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives,
[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.
[29]Department of Primary Industry, 1983. Leafy vegetables. Farming notes 30. Department of Primary Industry, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. 40 pp.
[36]French, B.R., 1986. Food plants of Papua New Guinea, a compendium. Australia Pacific Science Foundation. 407 pp.
[20]Burkill, I.H., 1935. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2 volumes. Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, United Kingdom. 2402 pp. (slightly revised reprint, 1966. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives,
[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.
[29]Department of Primary Industry, 1983. Leafy vegetables. Farming notes 30. Department of Primary Industry, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. 40 pp.
[36]French, B.R., 1986. Food plants of Papua New Guinea, a compendium. Australia Pacific Science Foundation. 407 pp.
Author(s)
M.H. van den Bergh
Correct Citation of this Article
Van den Bergh, M.H., 1993. Ficus tinctoria Forster f.. 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
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