Volume 10 > Part 4 > Year 2011 > Page 524 > Moraceae > Ficus

FIC13. Ficus mollissima Ridl.wfo-0000689357

Fl. Malay Penins. 3: 348. 1924; C.C.Berg & Corner, Fl. Males., Ser. 1, Spermat. 17(2): 119. 2005; C.C.Berg & S.Gardner, Thai Forest Bull. (Bot.) 35: 33. 2007.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Tree to 20 m tall, sometimes with short buttresses. Leafy twigs 5–10(–15) mm thick, pale brown to yellowish velutinous; internodes hollow; periderm flaking off below the leaves. Leaves in spirals; lamina cordiform to ovate, 16–22 by 13–16 cm, chartaceous, apex acuminate, base cordate, sometimes deep and overlapping lobes, margin dent(icul)ate; upper surface densely pale brown to yellowish puberulous, hirtellous or velutinous on the main veins, smooth, lower surface pale brown to yellowish velutinous; cystoliths absent; lateral veins 4–6 pairs, basal pair to ca ½ the length of the lamina, branched, other lateral veins often branched or furcate away from the margin, tertiary venation loosely scalariform; waxy glands in the axils of the main basal lateral veins or also in axils of the lesser basal veins and axils of the branches of the main lateral veins; petiole 3–9 cm long, pale brown to yellowish velutinous, the epidermis persistent; stipules 1–1.8 cm long, pale brown subvelutinous to subsericeous, caducous. Figs mostly below the leaves on previous season’s growth, in pairs, (sub)sessile; basal bracts 3, ca 3 mm long, yellowish subvelutinous; receptacle subglobose to ovoid, 1.5–2.5 cm in diameter when dry, pale brown to yellowish velutinous, with or without lateral bracts, orange-brown at maturity, apex convex, ostiole ca 8 mm in diameter, the (outer) ostiolar bracts erect; internal hairs abundant.

Thailand : PENINSULAR: Songkhla (Khao Nam Khang NP), Yala (Betong).

Distribution : Peninsular Malaysia (type).

Ecology : Evergreen forests, at low altitudes.

Notes: This species shows similarities to Ficus triloba, from which it differs by its shorter basal bracts and stipules and hairs of similar length and same colour on petioles and stipules.