Description and Ecology
This is a tree with buttress roots which ranges from 8–40 m (25–130 ft) tall. Although it is a freestanding tree when mature, F. insipida begins its growth as a climbing vine. It clings to a mature tree, eventually strangling it. Its favored hosts are Guarea tuisana and Sapium pachystachys, and it is also frequently found on already-dead trees.
Leaves vary shape from narrow to ellipse-shaped; they range from 5–25 cm (2–10 in) long and from 2–11 cm (0.8–4 in) wide. It flowers February to April and bears warty, yellow-green fruit 4–6 cm in diameter. Though they are edible like most figs, as the scientific name (literally "insipid fig") implies they are of unremarkable taste. Monkeys feed on fruits still on the tree, and fallen fruits are eaten by peccaries.
Two subspecies can be distinguished:
- Ficus insipida ssp. insipida
- Ficus insipida ssp. scabra
Read more about this topic: Ficus Insipida
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