Ficus subgen. Synoecia in Flora of China @ efloras.org

6. Ficus subgen. Synoecia Miquel ex Mildbraed & Burret, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 46: 174. 1912.

薜荔榕亚属 bi li rong ya shu

Climbers, often epiphytic or epilithic, climbing by short adventitious roots, sometimes a freestanding tree when mature (Ficus yunnanensis); dioecious. Leaves usually distichous, rarely spiral, on climbing stems often asymmetric, different from ones on non-climbing stems, margin entire; wax glands in axils of main basal veins, rarely on nodes of leafy stems. Figs usually axillary on normal leafy stems, less often cauliflorous, interfloral bracts absent, internal bristles often present, apical pore relatively small with up to 3 upper bracts visible; peduncle with 3 basal bracts in a collar. Perianth lobes glabrous or rarely hairy. Male flowers: around apical pore or scattered; stamen 1 or 2(or 3); pistillode usually absent. Female flowers: stigma usually 2-parted, subulate. Fruit an achene.

About 75 species: from Sri Lanka and Japan to Australia and the Solomon Islands; 14 species (six endemic) in China.

Members of Ficus subgen. Synoecia are pollinated by fig wasps belonging to the genus Wiebesia.

1 Figs 5-7 cm in diam., often cauliflorous; male flowers scattered, pedicellate; stamen 1; anthers not mucronate. 86 F. aurantiaca

+ Figs 0.4-3(-5) cm in diam., often axillary on leafy shoots; male flowers grouped near apical pore or if scattered then sessile; stamens 2; anthers usually mucronate. (2)

2 (1) Free standing tree. 96 F. yunnanensis

+ Root climber or scandent shrub (F. sagittata a tree when mature). (3)

3 (2) Leaf blade with 15-17 lateral veins on each side of midvein. 99 F. polynervis

+ Leaf blade with 3-9 lateral veins on each side of midvein. (4)

4 (3) Leaves dimorphic (leaf blade on fertile branchlets different in shape than ones on sterile branches); figs pear-shaped to ± globose, or cylindric, 3-5 cm in diam. 93 F. pumila

+ Leaves uniform in shape; figs usually globose (pear-shaped in F. pubigera), less than 2.5 cm in diam. (5)

5 (4) Petiole 3.5-7 cm; leaves spirally arranged. 90 F. laevis

+ Petiole 0.4-2.2 cm (2.5-3.5 cm in F. sarmentosa var. luducca); leaves distichous. (6)

6 (5) Inside of fig without bristles. (7)

+ Inside of fig with bristles among flowers, usually conspicuous. (10)

7 (6) Leaf apex obtuse to occasionally rounded. (8)

+ Leaf apex acute, acuminate, mucronate, or caudate. (9)

8 (7) Leaf blade 6-11 × 3.5-5 cm; peduncle 10-12 mm; involucral bracts connate for basal half. 88 F. hederacea

+ Leaf blade 3-3.5 × 1.5-3 cm; peduncle ca. 3 mm; involucral bracts free. 98 F. guangxiensis

9 (7) Figs hairy when young, 0.8-1.5 cm in diam. 89 F. sagittata

+ Figs glabrous, 0.6-0.8 cm in diam. 97 F. napoensis

10 (6) Stipules ca. 4 cm; fig surface tuberculate. 91 F. pubigera

+ Stipules 0.5-0.8 cm; fig surface smooth. (11)

11 (10) Secondary veins 7-9 on each side of midvein, tertiary veins honeycomblike. 94 F. sarmentosa

+ Secondary veins 3-7 on each side of midvein, venation not honeycomblike. (12)

12 (11) Leaf blade 5.4-10.8 cm wide, abaxially brown villous when young; margin with indistinct glandular teeth; figs 1.6-1.9 cm in diam.; peduncle 0.7-0.8 cm. 87 F. trichocarpa var. obtusa

+ Leaf blade 1.8-5 cm wide, abaxially shortly tomentose or pubescent and sparsely strigose; margin without glandular teeth; figs 0.8-1 cm in diam.; peduncle 1-1.5 cm. (13)

13 (12) Leaf blade abaxially shortly tomentose when young, adaxially glabrous; peduncle ca. 10 mm. 92 F. dinganensis

+ Leaf blade abaxially pubescent and sparsely strigose, adaxially coarsely scattered strigose; peduncle 10-15 mm. 95 F. guizhouensis

List of lower taxa