Ficus L. subg. Synoecia (Miq.) Miq. sect. Rhizocladus Endl. subsect. Plagiostigma (Siebold & Zucc. ex Miq.) C.C. Berg
Content
Description
internal hairs rather sparse and whitish to abundant and brownish.
Leaves differentiated into bathyphylls and acrophylls, spirally arranged (or acrophylls in lax spirals);
Stamens 2 (or 3);
Fruits compressed and keeled or hardly compressed and not keeled.
Distribution
Asia-Temperate: Korea present; Taiwan (Taiwan present), Asia-Tropical: India present; Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia cultivated), Japan present, northern Indochina present
With c. 10 species; ranging from India through China and northern Indochina to Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. In Malesia only F. pubigera (Malay Peninsula) and F. pumila in cultivation.
Taxonomy
2 Ficus pumila and F. sarmentosa show similarities to the F. punctata-group of sect. Kissosycea, in the habit, the foveolate lower surface of the lamina, and the shape and size of the fig receptacle, such as can be found in F. scratchleyana (from New Guinea). Ficus pumila has the typical Synoecia fruits, compressed and keeled, but the other species not. Ficus pubigera has sometimes hairs on the apices of the tepals whereas hairs are lacking on flowers of all other species of subg. Synoecia. In the very variable species F. sarmentosa, the lower surface of the lamina varies from deeply foveolate (as in F. pumila) to shallowly foveolate, as found in the F. punctata-group of sect. Kissosycea.
1Corner recognized three species in this subdivision (see ), F. pubigera, F. pumila, and F. sarmentosa, from which F. impressa Champ. ex Benth. is excluded and to be reinstated as a species. Chang ( and ) described a number of additional species. It is not yet clear whether they have to be put into the synonymy of F. sarmentosa or whether they are satellite species.