Barry Conn (NSW) & Kipiro Damas (LAE).
Guide to trees of Papua New Guinea
Copyright held by the authors, National Herbarium of New South Wales, and Papua New Guinea National Herbarium

Ficus nodosa Teijsm. & Binn.

Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch-Indië Vol. 29: 245 (1867)

Other Literature: C.C. Berg & E.J.H. Corner, Flora Malesiana, Series 1 343-345 (2005) Fig. 57-(a-f, map 7)-58.

Family: Moraceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species Tradename: Fig

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 30 m high); Bole cylindrical or markedly fluted (up to c. 60 cm diam.); straight or slightly crooked; buttresses buttresses present (buttresses up to 2 m high); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or brown (pale (mottled), smooth; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green; less than 25 mm thick, 2.0-4.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pale brown, markings absent; inner blaze pale brown, markings absent; bark exudate (sap) present, white/milky, flowing, colour not changing on exposure to air, sticky; terminal buds enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs present; mature twig indumentum (hairs) absent.

Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, spiral (leaves occurring singly at a node and arranged spirally up the branchlet), simple (a leaf composed of a single blade); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves broadest below middle, (7.0-) 10.0-38.0 cm, (4.0-) 7.0-30.0 cm; symmetric, serrate to dentate (toothed) (juvenile leaves on samplings) or entire, not dissected or lobed, acuminate, sub acute, or obtuse, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface dull pale green, upper surface green (dull (to subglossy), indumentum (hairs) absent or present, indumentum (hairs) dense or sparse; absent; domatia absent (but with cystoliths present on lower surface); stipules present, joined, joined across twigs, encircling the twig, leafy, not fringed, large (8-30 mm long), less often persistent or not persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence on the trunk or branches (synconia/figs cauliflorous), flowers on an unbranched axis (flowers forming a synconium/fig) or flowers on a branched axis (synconia/figs on branched axes up to 60 cm long), cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on the same plant, stalked (flowers shortly pedicellate; synconium/fig with peduncle 5-15 mm long) or not stalked (flowers initially sessile or subsessile), flowers completely asymmetric, with one plane of symmetry (male and female flowers), or with many planes of symmetry (by misinterpretation (synconium/fig), 1.5 (c.) mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (up to c. 1 mm diam.); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar (membranous), inner perianth pale green or cream-coloured; 1-3, free; stamens 1 (male flowers), present, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels solitary, locules 1; styles solitary (female flowers) or absent (male flowers), 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis (syconium/fig), fruit 15.0-25.0 mm long, 15.0-30.0 mm diam., yellow, brown, or purple, not spiny, fleshy, syconium (fig), indehiscent, achene or syconium (fig); seeds 100, barely visible (to 1 mm long) (less than 1 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed less than 1 mm diam.

Distribution: West Sepik, East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Western, Gulf, Central, Northern, Milne Bay, New Britain, New Ireland & Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details