Common Name: Karet Binasah

General Information

Karet binasah is an evergreen plant that usually starts life as a climbing fig, or banyan, that is most commonly found growing on the branches of other trees. As it grows larger, it sends down aerial roots to the ground to obtain extra nutrition, and also grows faster than its host, often completely smothering it. It can eventually become a mid-canopy tree growing up to 38 metres tall with a bole up to 31cm in diameter[]. One report says that, unlike many other banyans, this species seldom kills its host, and is sometimes found growing on its own roots[].
The tree is sometimes harvested from the wild for local use of its fibre.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Southeast Asia - Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia.

Habitat

Undisturbed mixed dipterocarp, (peat)-swamp, coastal and sub-montane forests at elevations up to 800 metres[]. On alluvial sites (swamps) but also common on ridges and hillsides. In secondary forests usually as a pre-disturbance remnant tree[].

Properties

Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	25.00 m
Pollinators	Wasps
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Usually found on sandy soils in the wild[, ].
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

None known

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

The bark is the source of a bark cloth that is used for binding books in the tropics[].

Propagation

Seed -

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