Ficus anastomosans
Content
Description
Shrub or treelet, terrestrial.
Branchlets drying (dark) brown.
internal hairs minute and sparse.
Leaves distichous;
stipules amplexicaul, 0.2-0.3 cm long, puberulous, caducous.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: Sulawesi (Sulawesi present); Thailand (Thailand present)
Thailand; in Malesia: Celebes (near Pankadjene).
Taxonomy
3In Thailand, the lamina is sometimes distinctly asymmetrical and/or rhomboid.
1The three collections from Celebes, , , and (the type of F. ampelas var. hispidula), fully match a number of collections from Thailand, made from shrubs or treelets on limestone. Other collections from Thailand (limestone) and India (Madhya Pradesh) are made from climbers, having larger, ± strongly asymmetric, obliquely (sub)rhomboid laminas, more or less resembling those of F. tinctoria subsp. gibbosa. As transitional features of the lamina occur, the shrubby and lianescent plants could belong to the same species. The position of this species is not quite clear, as some features point at membership of sect. Sycidium, as it shows similarities to F. ampelas and F. goniophylla as well.
2This species also resembles somewhat a form of F. tinctoria subsp. tinctoria, described as F. fenicis and F. swinhoei from Mindanao (Philippines) and Taiwan, respectively, and characterized by rigidly coriaceous, very scabrous laminas with entire and revolute margins and more numerous lateral veins.