''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 int ...

. 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 contine ...

and as far south east as

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. 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, ...

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 on their sternum bones) and are native to the tropical fo ...

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 reproducti ...

, 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 Germany, German-Netherlands, Dutch botanist. He was born at Braunschweig in Germany, but studied at Leiden University and spent his ...

in 1825. In 1965, E. J. H. Corner 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 List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

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 b ...

, ''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 Yonagu ...

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 no ...

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 e ...

, 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'' 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 ...

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 * Yellow-crested cockatoo * 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 l ...

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 Stein's cuscus (''Phalanger vestitus'') is a species of marsupial in the family Phalangeridae. It is found in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially th ...

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 The lesser short-nosed fruit bat (''Cynopterus brachyotis'') is a species of megabat within the family Pteropodidae. It is a small bat that lives in South Asia and Southeast Asia. It weighs between , and measures . It occurs in many types of habi ...

Horsfield's fruit bat Horsfield's fruit bat (''Cynopterus horsfieldii'') is a species of megabat native to South East Asia. It is named for Thomas Horsfield, an American naturalist who presented the type specimen to the British Museum. Description Horsfield's fruit ba ...

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 p ...

Indonesian short-nosed fruit bat The Indonesian short-nosed fruit bat (''Cynopterus titthaecheilus'') is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. It is endemic to Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Ocean ...

* New Guinea naked-backed fruit bat *

Lesser naked-backed fruit bat The lesser naked-backed fruit bat (''Dobsonia minor'') is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. It is found in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), o ...

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 de ...

* Broad-striped tube-nosed fruit bat * Common tube-nosed fruit bat * Eastern tube-nosed bat * Lesser tube-nosed fruit bat * Greater musky fruit bat * Great flying fox *

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 *

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 *

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 The agile gibbon (''Hylobates agilis''), also known as the black-handed gibbon, is an Old World primate in the gibbon family. It is found in Indonesia on the island of Sumatra, Malaysia, and southern Thailand. The species is listed as endangere ...

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 ...

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