''Ficus variegata'' is a well distributed species of tropical

fig tree ''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending ...

. It occurs in many parts of Asia, islands of the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and as far south east as

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. There is a large variety of local common names including common red stem fig, green fruited fig and variegated fig. A non strangling fig which may reach 30 metres in height. The tree is evergreen when young but becomes briefly

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

as it grows older. In Australia the fruit are eaten by

cassowaries Cassowaries ( tpi, muruk, id, kasuari) are flightless birds of the genus ''Casuarius'' in the order Casuariiformes. They are classified as ratites (flightless birds without a keel (bird anatomy), keel on their sternum bones) and are native t ...

and double-eyed fig parrots. ''Ficus variegata'' is

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

, with male and female flowers produced on separate individuals.

Taxonomy

''Ficus variegata'' has been described by

Carl Ludwig Blume Charles Ludwig de Blume or Karl Ludwig von Blume (9 June 1796, Braunschweig – 3 February 1862, Leiden) was a German-Dutch botanist. He was born at Braunschweig in Germany, but studied at Leiden University and spent his professional life wor ...

in 1825. In 1965,

E. J. H. Corner Edred John Henry Corner FRS (12 January 1906 – 14 September 1996) was an English mycologist and botanist who occupied the posts of assistant director at the Singapore Botanic Gardens (1929–1946) and Professor of Tropical Botany at the Uni ...

updated the species by putting some other ''Ficus'' in synonymy with ''F. variegata'' varieties. Five were listed: ''F. variegata'' var. ''variegata'' distributed on all the species range, ''F. variegata'' var. ''chlorocarpa'' from South

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

Island and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, ''F. variegata'' var. ''garciae'' described as inhabitant of the Pacific Islands (

Ryukyu The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

islands,

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

and

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

), ''F. variegata'' var. ''ilangoides'' in

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

and northern

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

, and ''F. variegata'' var. ''sycomoroides'' in the Philippines and Borneo. Recently, all the varieties have been synonymized under ''Ficus variegata''. ''Ficus variegata'' belongs to the subgenus ''Sycomorus'' section ''Sycomorus'' subsection ''Neomorphe''. Ficus variegata young figs

Ficus variegata pollinated figs and parasitic wasps

Ecology

''Ficus variegata'' is pollinated by fig wasps from the genus ''

Ceratosolen ''Ceratosolen'' is an Old World wasp genus in the family Agaonidae (fig wasps). They are pollinators of the monoecious fig subsections ''Sycomorus'' and ''Sycocarpus'', and the section ''Neomorphe'', all belonging to the subgenus ''Sycomorus''. ...

'' as are all the fig species from the subgenus ''Sycomorus''. The figs of ''Ficus variegata'' have been reported to be eaten by 41 animal species (5 birds, 15 bats, 7 monkeys, 7

marsupial Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a po ...

s): *

Southern cassowary The southern cassowary (''Casuarius casuarius''), also known as double-wattled cassowary, Australian cassowary or two-wattled cassowary, is a large flightless black bird. It is one of the three living species of cassowary, alongside the dwarf c ...

Blyth's hornbill Blyth's hornbill (''Rhyticeros plicatus''), also known as the Papuan hornbill, is a large hornbill inhabiting the forest canopy in Wallacea and Melanesia. Its local name in Tok Pisin is ''kokomo''. Previously, this hornbill was placed in the gen ...

Yellow-crested cockatoo The yellow-crested cockatoo (''Cacatua sulphurea'') also known as the lesser sulphur-crested cockatoo, is a medium-sized (about 34-cm-long) cockatoo with white plumage, bluish-white bare orbital skin, grey feet, a black bill, and a retractile y ...

* Double-eyed fig parrot *

Japanese white-eye The warbling white-eye (''Zosterops japonicus''), also known as the Japanese white-eye and mountain white-eye, is a small passerine bird in the white-eye family. The specific epithet is occasionally written ''japonica'', but this is incorrect due ...

* Common echymipera * Long-nosed echymipera *

Raffray's bandicoot Raffray's bandicoot (''Peroryctes raffrayana'') is a species of marsupial in the family Peroryctidae. It is found in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. It is known as pakam in the Kalam la ...

Ground cuscus The ground cuscus (''Phalanger gymnotis'') is a marsupial from the order Diprotodontia and belongs within the family Phalangeridae, a diverse family consisting of the other cuscus species and the brushtail possums (''Trichosurus'' spp.) and the ...

Northern common cuscus The northern common cuscus (''Phalanger orientalis''), also known as the gray cuscus, is a species of marsupial in the family Phalangeridae native to northern New Guinea and adjacent smaller islands, but is now also found in the Bismarck Archipel ...

* Stein's cuscus *

Common spotted cuscus The common spotted cuscus (''Spilocuscus maculatus''), also known as the white cuscus, is a cuscus, a marsupial that lives in the Cape York region of Australia, New Guinea, and nearby smaller islands. Names It is known as aklang or gabi in the ...

* Lesser short-nosed fruit bat * Horsfield's fruit bat *

Greater short-nosed fruit bat The greater short-nosed fruit bat (''Cynopterus sphinx''), or short-nosed Indian fruit bat, is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae found in South and Southeast Asia. Description These bats have a relatively long snout. Their upper pa ...

* Indonesian short-nosed fruit bat *

New Guinea naked-backed fruit bat The New Guinea naked-backed fruit bat (''Dobsonia magna'' or ''Dobsonia moluccensis magna'') is a species of megabat native to Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian islands of Waigeo, Yapen, Batanta, and Misool Misool, formerly spelled Mysol ( ...

* Lesser naked-backed fruit bat *

Long-tongued fruit bat The long-tongued fruit bat (''Macroglossus sobrinus'') is a species of megabat. It is nectarivorous, feeding on nectar from primarily banana flowers. It is found in several countries in South and Southeast Asia. Taxonomy and etymology It was spe ...

Broad-striped tube-nosed fruit bat The broad-striped tube-nosed fruit bat (''Nyctimene aello''), also known as the greater tube-nosed bat is a species of megabat in the genus '' Nyctimene''. It is found in West Papua, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and central Philippines. In 1912, ...

Common tube-nosed fruit bat The common tube-nosed fruit bat (''Nyctimene albiventer'') is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. It is found at islands north of Australia, and in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands. Taxonomy T ...

Eastern tube-nosed bat The eastern or Queensland tube-nosed bat (''Nyctimene robinsoni'') is a megabat in the family Pteropodidae that lives in north-eastern Australia. ''N. robinsoni'' is one of the few species of megabat that roosts solitarily. They get their common ...

* Lesser tube-nosed fruit bat * Greater musky fruit bat *

Great flying fox The great flying fox (''Pteropus neohibernicus''), also known as the greater flying fox or Bismarck flying fox, is a species of megabat in the genus ''Pteropus'', found throughout lowland areas of New Guinea and in the Bismarck Archipelago. Confl ...

Geoffroy's rousette Geoffroy's rousette (''Rousettus amplexicaudatus'') is a species of megabat or Old World fruit bats. It is one of ten species in the genus ''Rousettus''. Distribution Geoffroy's rousette occurs throughout Southeast Asia and in the Malesia region ...

* Common blossom bat *

Celebes crested macaque The Celebes crested macaque (''Macaca nigra''), also known as the crested black macaque, Sulawesi crested macaque, or the black ape, is an Old World monkey that lives in the Tangkoko reserve in the northeastern tip of the Indonesian island of Su ...

Javan surili The Javan surili (''Presbytis comata'') is a vulnerable species of Old World monkey endemic to the western half of Java, Indonesia, a biodiversity hotspot. Other common names by which it is known by include gray, grizzled or Sunda Island surili; ...

Red-shanked douc The red-shanked douc (''Pygathrix nemaeus'') is an arboreal and diurnal Old World monkey belonging to the Colobinae subfamily. They are endemic to Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. They are known for their bright colors and express exhibit sexual dimo ...

Lar gibbon The lar gibbon (''Hylobates lar''), also known as the white-handed gibbon, is an endangered primate in the gibbon family, Hylobatidae. It is one of the better-known gibbons and is often kept in captivity. Taxonomy There are five subspecies of ...

Silvery gibbon The silvery gibbon (''Hylobates moloch''), also known as the Javan gibbon, is a primate in the gibbon family Hylobatidae. It is endemic to the Indonesian island of Java, where it inhabits undisturbed rainforests up to an altitude of . It is liste ...

* Agile gibbon *

Bornean orangutan The Bornean orangutan (''Pongo pygmaeus'') is a species of orangutan endemic to the island of Borneo. Together with the Sumatran orangutan (''Pongo abelii'') and Tapanuli orangutan (''Pongo tapanuliensis''), it belongs to the only genus of great ...

Black rat The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is n ...

References

variegata Trees of China Trees of Taiwan Trees of Thailand Trees of Malesia Trees of Australia Flora of Queensland Flora of the Ryukyu Islands Dioecious plants {{Moraceae-stub