Favoritos de joshuaseng

This is the fruits of a female Cuming's Fig (Ficus cumingii) showing relatively large seeds inside. The first few are the almost ripe fruits and the and the ones you scroll to the back the are the less ripe fruits. This is a common fig species from Philippines which have successfully arrived the east coast of Sabah, Borneo. This species is unique where it has some leaves that are growing opposite to each other which is unlike all the other fig species. Leaves are are very rough with tiny hard hairs. Previous records has shown that this species is very rare in Borneo but we realize that they are quite common and just growing in places where botanists wouldn't bother to look.

My organization (1StopBorneo Wildlife) stumbled upon this while trying to record important fig trees in the urban wildlife ecosystem. In our nursery, seeds of this species germinate quite well.

For a better look at the whole fig plant, click here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66240899

To see the male fruits, click here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/65912174

Spade-leaf Fig (Ficus excavata) is probably the world's smallest fig species! This is an epyphite which grows high up in the canopy and produce figs as small as 3mm in diameter only. This is definitely one of the hardest wild fig species that I have ever found. It took me more than half an hour trying to find these tiny fruits growing 50 meters above in the forest canopy. Unripe fruits are yellow and turns orange then brownish red. Leaves are rounded and very small as well. This species is considered very rare as its tiny size and high-growing locations makes it incredibly hard to spot.

The 150+ wild fig species in Borneo are really fascinating but this F. excavata is truly spectacular. My organization (1StopBorneo Wildlife) tries to document interesting wild figs during our wildlife expeditions and an awesome find like this is what drives us enthusiastic to keep on looking for more wonders in nature.