Where seen? This large tree can be seen on Pulau Ubin.
According to Hsuan Keng, it is native in the northern Malay peninsula
and was often planted as an ornamental in Singapore. According to
Corners, the abundance of this tree in inhabited parts of Malaya is
due to the veneration that the Indians hold for it.
Features: A large strangling
fig with many aerial roots. Leaves glossy dark green, leathery, large
(7.5-25cm) with many fine parellel veins. The large stipules are bright
red. The small figs are oval (1cm long) and ripen yellow. Large red
buds also appear on the lower branches.
Human uses: According to Corners,
before the introduction of Hevea
brasiliensis, the India-rubber tree was a major source of
rubber in our part of the world. According to Burkill, it lost out
because the India-rubber tree latex contains a resin that hardens
with time thus making the latex less elastic. It also does not produce
as much latex as H. brasiliensis. The Indians apparently had
been using latex from the tree to line their containers, e.g., to
contain honey or to bail out water. When the Europeans discovered
the latex, thousands of India-rubber trees were planted in Malaysia
in an effort to produce the latex in commercial quantities.
- Ng, Angie
et. al. 2005. A guide to the fabulous figs of Singapore.
Singapore Science Centre.152 pp.
- Hsuan Keng,
S.C. Chin and H. T. W. Tan. 1990, The
Concise Flora of Singapore: Gymnosperms and Dicotyledons.
Singapore University Press. 222 pp.
E. J. H., 1997. Wayside
Trees of Malaya: in two volumes.
Fourth edition, Malayan Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur. Volume 1:
1-476 pp, plates 1-38; volume 2: 477-861 pp., plates 139-236.
I. H., 1993. A
Dictionary of the Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula.
3rd printing. Publication Unit, Ministry of Agriculture, Malaysia,
Kuala Lumpur. Volume 1: 1-1240; volume 2: 1241-2444.