Ficus kurzii
Content
Description
Tree up to 10(-30) m tall, hemi-epiphytic or (secondarily?) terrestrial with copious aerial roots from the branches.
internal hairs absent.
Leaves spirally arranged;
stipules 0.5-1(-1.2) cm long, glabrous, caducous, often with a distinct median part and the margins often curling outwards.
Ovary red.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: Jawa (Jawa present); Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia present); Sumatera (Sumatera present); Thailand (Thailand present), Myanmar present, S China present
Myanmar, S China, Thailand, Indochina; in Malesia: Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Java.
Notes
2Material in cultivation in Latin America and Hawaii which I have identified as F. kurzii, almost certainly represent a distinct species of which I have not yet encountered a matching Asian collection.
3A record that this species occurs in the Lesser Sunda Islands (Lombok), as indicated by Corner (1965), is not found in L.
1This species is in most features similar to F. benjamina. It differs in the midrib which is ± prominent above (at least in the lower part of the lamina), whereas it is slightly impressed (at least in the lower part of the lamina) in F. benjamina. Moreover, the leafy twigs, stipules, and figs are mostly blackish when dry, whereas mostly pale-coloured in F. benjamina. The receptacle tends to be stipitate (or is clearly stipitate) and the fig becomes black at full maturity. This species occurs scattered in the western aprt of the range of distribution of F. benjamina and is rather poorly represented in herbarium collections. It is somewhat doubtful whether this taxon should be regarded as distinct at the species level.
Citation
Kochummen 1978 – In: Tree Fl. Malaya: 149
Backer & Bakh.f. 1965 – In: Fl. Java: 23
Koord. & Valeton 1906 – In: Bijdr. Boomsoort. Java: 124
King 1888 – In: Fl. Brit. India: 509
F.B. Forbes & Hemsl. 1899 – In: J. Linn. Soc. Bot.: 463
Corner 1965: – Gard. Bull. Singapore 21: 18
Koord. 1916 – In: Atlas Baumart. Java: t. 737-739