Common Name: Red-Stem Fig

General Information

Red-stem fig is a medium to large-sized tree; it can grow from 7 - 38 metres tall. The bole can be up to 110cm in diameter[, ] The bole can be up to 300cm in diameter, with plank buttresses up to 5 metres high[]. The tree is evergreen when young but becomes briefly deciduous as it grows older[].
The tree is harvested from the wild for local use as a food, medicine and source of wood and wax. The wax is sold in local markets[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

, ,

Range

E. Asia - S. China, S. Japan, India, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, to New Guinea, Australia, Solomon Islands.

Habitat

Valleys at low to medium elevations in southern China[]. A mid-canopy tree in regrowth, forest gardens and disturbed or open sites in mixed dipterocarp forests at elevations up to 500 metres. Along rivers and streams or on alluvial sites[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	15.00 m
Growth Rate	Fast
Pollinators	Wasps
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Found in the wild on a range of soils from sandy to clay, including limestone[].
A fast-growing tree[].
Fig trees have a unique form of fertilization, each species relying on a single, highly specialized species of wasp that is itself totaly dependant upon that fig species in order to breed. The trees produce three types of flower; male, a long-styled female and a short-styled female flower, often called the gall flower. All three types of flower are contained within the structure we usually think of as the fruit.
The female fig wasp enters a fig and lays its eggs on the short styled female flowers while pollinating the long styled female flowers. Wingless male fig wasps emerge first, inseminate the emerging females and then bore exit tunnels out of the fig for the winged females. Females emerge, collect pollen from the male flowers and fly off in search of figs whose female flowers are receptive. In order to support a population of its pollinator, individuals of a Ficus spp. must flower asynchronously. A population must exceed a critical minimum size to ensure that at any time of the year at least some plants have overlap of emmission and reception of fig wasps. Without this temporal overlap the short-lived pollinator wasps will go locally extinct[].

Edible Uses

Fruit[, ]. The red-brown, globose fruits are around 12mm in diameter[].

The latex is used as a food additive in palm starch[].

Medicinal

The roots are used as an antidote[].

The bark is used as a remedy for dysentery[]

The fruit is used as a remedy for dysentery[].

The latex is applied topically in the treatment of cuts[].

Other Uses

The tree is a source of wax which is used in Batik work[]. (Is this referring to the latex?[]).

The wood is of low quality, but is used for temporary construction, mouldings, interior work, cladding, drawers, fruit crates, floats and knife sheaths[, ].
The wood is used for fuel[].

Propagation

Seed - germinates best at a temperature around 20°c[].
Air layering[].
Tip cuttings around 4 - 12cm long, taken from lateral branches[].

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