Volume 10 > Part 4 > Year 2011 > Page 510 > Moraceae > Ficus

FIC3. Ficus cambodica Gagnep.wfo-0000687667

Notul. Syst. (Paris) 4: 87. 1927; Fl. Indo-Chine 5: 825. 1929; C.C.Berg, Thai Forest Bull. (Bot.) 35: 15. 2007. Plate LVIII: 3.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Tree to 15 m tall, with intermittent growth. Leafy twigs 2–3 mm thick, densely brown puberulous; periderm persistent. Leaves in spirals; lamina subobovate to oblong, (3–)5–17 by (1.5–)2.5–7.5 cm, chartaceous, apex acuminate, base cuneate to obtuse (to rounded), margin entire (to faintly denticulate towards the apex); upper surface puberulous to hispidulous on the main veins, ± scabrous, lower surface rather densely brown puberulous, the veins smooth; cystoliths absent (or sparse and only above); lateral veins 4–5 pairs, the basal pair to ½–⅔ the length of the lamina, close to the margin and unbranched (or more distant and branched), tertiary venation subscalariform to reticulate; waxy glands in the axils of the basal lateral veins; petiole 0.5–1.5(–3.5) cm long, 1–2 mm thick, densely brown puberulous, the epidermis persistent; stipules fully amplexicaul, 0.5–0.6 cm long, brown (to pale yellowish) subsericeous, caducous. Figs below the leaves on previous season’s growth, in pairs or solitary, subsessile; basal bracts 3, 1–1.5 mm long, puberulous; receptacle subglobose to ovoid, when dry 0.5–0.7(–1) cm diam., to ca 1 cm diam. when fresh, rather densely puberulous, without lateral bracts, colour at maturity unknown, apex convex, ostiole 2–3 mm diam., almost flat to umbonate, the upper ostiolar bracts appressed-puberulous; internal hairs sparse, long, whitish. Tepals dark red, glabrous. Stamens 2. Style of long-styled flowers hairy.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Nan; CENTRAL: Nakhon Nayok; SOUTH-EASTERN: Trat; PENINSULAR: Krabi.

Distribution : S China, Vietnam, Cambodia (type).

Ecology : Dry evergreen and evergreen forests, to 1,750 m alt.

Vernacular : Ma duea khon (มะเดื่อขน)(Chiang Mai).

Notes: This species was reduced to a variety of Ficus tuphapensis Drake, a species from Vietnam and SE China (Hainan), which differs in the semi-amplexicaul to lateral stipules and the mostly rounded to subcordate base of the lamina.

This species is closely related to the submontane Ficus oreophila which can be distinguished from F. cambodica specimens with pedunculate figs by the smooth upper surface of the lamina and the shorter lateral veins.

This species shows similarities to (and has been mixed up with) Ficus fulva, which is distinct, e.g., in the rounded to cordate base of the lamina, by the distinctly branched basal lateral veins and other lateral veins branched or forked away from the margin, the clearly denticulate margin of the lamina, and the longer basal bracts.

Collection Maxwell 97-50 from Mae Hong Son is somewhat distinct by the petiole to 2.5 cm long, the branched lateral veins, and the larger fig receptacle, being ca 1 cm diam.