Skip to main content

Common red stem fig (Ficus variegata)

Nyawai or common red stem fig (Ficus variegata) is a tree species in Moraceae, height up to 30-40 m and diameter 85-100 cm, buttresses up to 2 m and smooth surface, unisexual flowers, fruit buds appear directly on the stem and grow solitary in the tropics.

F. variegata has a single leaf, scattered, ovoid, heart-shaped base and pointed tip. Thin leaves with a size of 9-25x4-12 cm. Secondary veins for 4-8 pairs with base arranged like fingers and stem length of 2.5-18 cm.

Dlium Common red stem fig (Ficus variegata)

Female flowers consist of an elongated and white stylus, ovaries, red colored calyx and pedicles. A flower bud becomes a ripe fruit for around 2-3 months. This tree starts to bear fruit at a young age.

Common red stem fig species require full sunlight, often found in burned natural forests and scattered along with other pioneer plants including jabon (Anthocephalus cadamba), mahang (Macaranga spp.), benuang bini (Octomeles sumatrana) and nuklea (Nauclea sp.) .

Nyawai grows at an altitude of 0-1000 m, rainfall 1700-3900 mm per year with an average of 148-266 mm per month and 9-14 days/month, temperature 21-32C and humidity 70-84%, pH 4.5 -5.2 on the soil of the red-yellow podsolic group with flat to moderate undulating topography.

The flowering and fruiting period is from May to June. Mature fruit has a variety of colors including dark green, reddish green to blackish red. Measuring around 34 mm and round, clustered and attached to the trunk and branches.







A tree can be found immature fruit and ripe fruit at once. Ripe fruit has a sweet taste and is liked by apes, birds, anteaters, porcupines and wild boars. The fruit contains very small and intermediate seeds with an amount of 3-5 million grains/kg.

Wood is brightly colored, whitish yellow and has a good complexion. The heating value is 4.225 cal/gram, the specific gravity is 0.20-0.43 and is classified in the strength class V and durability class V-III. It does not require special treatment to produce a good 1.5 mm veneer with a 910 peel angle.

Wood contains 74.42% holocellulose, 27.97% lignin, 19.75% pentosan, 2.84% ash and 0.439% silica. The wood will dry out within 11 days with a 50% moisture content to be reduced to 13% at a temperature of 20-33 C and humidity 62-85%.

Wood is used as plywood for face veneer, very good for temporary building construction, molding, interior, drawers, boxes for fruit and raw materials for pulp and paper. Leaves for deer feed. Fast growing trees are often used for reforestation and restoring degraded land.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Rosales
Family: Moraceae
Genus: Ficus
Species: Ficus variegata
Varieties: Ficus variegata var. chlorocarpa, Ficus variegata var. garciae

Popular Posts

Broad-leaved dock (Rumex obtusifolius)

Broad-leaved dock ( Rumex obtusifolius ) is a species of plant in the Polygonaceae, herbaceous perennial, growing broadly, up to 150 cm tall, large, oval-shaped leaves with a heart-shaped base and rounded tip, large taproot with many branches extending to a depth of 150 cm. R. obtusifolius has leaves up to 30 cm long, 15 cm wide and green. Stems are long, hard, alternate, green or reddish in color and unbranched until just below the inflorescence. A main vein in the middle and green or reddish in color. Flat or wavy surface. The inflorescences consist of large clusters of racemes that contain small, greenish flowers that turn red as they mature. Seeds are reddish brown and dry. Broad-leaved dock grows in fertile soils, grasslands, waste lands, roadsides, ditches, coastlines and riverbanks, forest margins, forest clearing and agricultural land. The leaves are used as a salad to make vegetable broth or cooked like spinach. Dried seeds are used as a spice. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tr...

Khorat butterfly lizard (Leiolepis glaurung) adapts to rocky habitats for the first time in the genus

NEWS - A new species of rock-dwelling butterfly lizard (Leiolepis Cuvier, 1829) has been described from the Khorat Plateau in northeastern Thailand. This new report of Leiolepis glaurung brings the number of Leiolepis species in Thailand to six and worldwide to 11, and is the first case of an ecological adaptation to survive in a rocky habitat. L. glaurung can be distinguished from all other sexual species of Leiolepis by its combination of a black gular region with a broad yellow medial stripe, a yellow ventrum with black spots, bright red to orange subcaudal coloration, sides that can expand and retract to none, and only a single black transverse stripe on its sides. The researchers hypothesize that this morphology is an adaptation to reduce the diameter of its body to better fit into smaller rocky burrows, unlike the larger and deeper burrows built in looser soil by other species. The new specimen lives on the Khorat Plateau and is phylogenetically, ecologically, and morphologic...

Twoleaf nightshade (Solanum diphyllum)

Twoleaf nightshade ( Solanum diphyllum ) is a species of plants in Solanaceae, upright shrubs grow in shade, 1-2 m tall, rounded stems, dense, green-purple brown, short hairy, stopping cells, cornered young twigs and widely cultivated as plants decorate with bright yellow ripe fruit. S. diphyllum has leaves that are alternating, solitary or paired in twigs with generative organs. Some are stemmed for 1-1.5 cm. The leaves are oval to oblique round eggs, dynamic base, flat or wavy edges, tapered or rounded edges, 1-14.5 cm long, 0.5-4 cm wide and have short hair. Flowers facing leaves 5-25 mm long. Has a 2 mm handle, brownish purple, straight and unbranched. Hook 5-10 mm, greenish to brown and curved. The petals have five ears, resembling kupula, pale green, 1-5 mm long and short haired. Flowers have five crowns, coincide, star-shaped, yellowish white, 2-5 mm long. Has five stamens, free and facing the crown. Short and yellowish green pistil. The stigma is yellow, attached to the...