Ficus insipida

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Ficus insipida
Roots

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Moraceae
Genus: Ficus
Subgenus: F. subg. Pharmacosycea
Species:
F. insipida
Binomial name
Ficus insipida
Synonyms[2]
  • Ficus anthelminthica
    Mart.
  • Ficus glabrata
    Kunth
  • Ficus helminthagoga
    Dugand
  • Ficus longistipula
    Pittier
  • Ficus palmirana Dugand
  • Ficus werckleana Rossberg
  • Ficus whitei Rusby
  • Pharmacosycea anthelmintica
    Miq.
  • Pharmacosycea brittonii Rusby
  • Galoglychia martinicensis
    Gasp.

Ficus insipida is a common tropical tree in the fig genus of the family Moraceae growing in forest habitats along rivers. It ranges from Mexico to northern South America.[3]

Taxonomy

The tree was

scientific name Ficus insipida (literally "insipid fig") by Carl Ludwig Willdenow, having studied the herbarium specimens collected in Caracas by the gardener Franz Bredemeyer in the 1780s during the Märter Expedition [de]. Willdenow reports its fruit are tasteless.[4] Incongruously, among the many species of figs to grow in the region, this species is in fact recognisable by its large and sweet figs (when ripe).[5]

In the 1960 Flora of Panama, Gordon P. DeWolf Jr. lumped the species F. adhatodifolia and F. crassiuscula as synonyms of F. insipida,[6] but his taxonomic interpretation was not followed by subsequent authorities.[2]

allopatric or almost allopatric subspecies in 1984:[7]

With about 750 species,

monophyletic and is a sister group to the rest of the genus Ficus.[11]

Mysteriously,

phylogenetically nestled within F. insipida. All four species occur together in a similar large range, but nonetheless, these species are quite easily differentiated morphologically. Strangely, in the case of the F. maxima and F. tonduzii specimens, these were nestled within a different haplotype, with an Amazonian distribution, as opposed to clustering within the haplotype found contemporaneously in Panama. An explanation for this is not readily apparent: the species may have recently evolved from F. insipida, although this would seem unlikely, or perhaps all three specimens just happened to be hybrids, another unlikely possibility.[12]

Description

A non-climbing fig, the trunk has a smooth, straight bole, with smooth bark and fluted with buttress roots.
The leaf veins are coloured yellow, and the entire leaf becomes bright yellow after it falls from the tree

This is a tree with buttress roots that ranges from 8–40 m (26–131 ft) tall.[6] Because this is a pioneer species which quickly colonises secondary forest, and it is also a fast-growing species which can grow into a massive tree in only 100 years or so, it is generally readily recognisable as the largest trees in such secondary woodlands.[13]

Leaves vary shape from narrow to ellipse-shaped; they range from 5–25 cm (2.0–9.8 in) long and from 2–11 cm (0.79–4.33 in) wide.[6]

Similar species

In Costa Rica or Panama it may be confused with Ficus yoponensis, but this similar lowland fig tree has smaller leaves, stipules and fruit, and only occurs in

primary forest, whereas F. insipida is also found in secondary forest.[13][14][15] Another similar fig species in this area is F. crassivenosa, but this species has differently shaped leaves and does not have the same habitat preference (the tendency to grow in association with water courses).[8]

Distribution

The nominate subspecies occurs from Mexico south throughout Central America to Colombia and Venezuela and thence to Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Amazonian Brazil, and north from Venezuela to

Guianas to northwestern Brazil in the states of Amapá and Pará.[7][8]

In Mexico it has been recorded to occur in the

states of Chihuahua, Durango, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas in the north, southwards to Campeche, Chiapas, Colima, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, México, Michoacán de Ocampo, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, Tabasco and Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave.[16][17] In both Costa Rica and Nicaragua it is found in lowlands along both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as in the central valleys.[3][8][18]

In Bolivia it has been recorded in the northern and eastern departments of Beni, Cochabamba, La Paz, Pando and Santa Cruz: most of the country except the Andes in the southwest. In Ecuador it is known from the provinces of Esmeraldas, Imbabura, Manabí, Morona-Santiago, Napo, Pastaza, Sucumbíos and Zamora-Chinchipe.[17] In Colombia the species has been recorded in the departments of Amazonas, Antioquia, Bolívar, Boyacá, Caquetá, Casanare, Cauca, Chocó, Cundinamarca, La Guajira, Guaviare, Huila, Magdalena, Meta, Nariño, Norte de Santander, Putumayo, Risaralda, Santander, Tolima and Valle.[19]

The distribution in Brazil includes, besides Amapá and Pará mentioned above, the states of Acre, Amazonas and Rondônia. In the state of Pará both subspecies appear to occur, although this is unclear.[20]

Prehistoric distribution

Although it is often stated that the

nominate subspecies: although populations are reasonably diverse from Mexico to the Andes area, the trees in the populations in most of the Amazon area are genetically similar to one another, with the occurrence of a "single widespread haplotype" and the trees in much of Bolivia having no discernable genetic diversity found in the tested sequences at all, indicating they only recently colonised this region. In this the species shows a similar pattern to other lowland, rainforest trees.[12]

Spatial distribution

The nominate subspecies is quite common in Nicaragua and Panama,[3][13] but subspecies scabra is conversely said to be a rare tree in the Guianas.[5]

Ecology

Habitat

The typical habitat of the nominate subspecies is lowland forests down to the coast.[3][8] Ficus insipida subsp. insipida does not grow above 1,100m in Costa Rica,[8][18] and is found down to 50m,[18] or sea level.[8] It grows between 0–700m in altitude in Nicaragua (exceptionally up to 1300m).[3] It can be found in either very humid, humid or dry climates, but it is almost always encountered growing along rivers, and often on slopes.[3][8][18] It is found in thickly wooded small hills abutting the coast in Atlantic Costa Rica.[21]

The scabra subspecies appears to have a slightly different habitat preference, being typically found on slopes in either rainforest or mountain savannas in the Guianas.[5]

Lifecycle and community ecology

Like many figs and other rainforest fruit trees, F. insipida is a 'mass-fruiter', and like many (tropical rainforest) figs but unlike many rainforest fruit trees, individual F. insipida trees fruit according to a staggered, asynchronous schedule with respect to other neighbouring conspecifics. Thus, irrespective of the season, there is always a fig flowering and fruiting somewhere, which can be

cross pollination. Like the fruit, the new leaves are produced in asynchronous flushes.[22]

It is a

oviposit their eggs. The synstigma is so coherent, pollen tubes may grow from one stigma into the ovule of another neighbouring floret. The length specified by the distance between the synstigma and the ovules helps determine which wasp species may live in a particular fig species, and also cause the females to mostly lay their eggs in the short-styled florets (although in F. insipida this is not so strict, and both types of florets are fertile and both can host a wasp larva).[10][23]

The flowers found within the figs of F. insipida are pollinated by the females of tiny wasps belonging to the genus

pupate, but only the females are winged, and can thus fly to the next fig to lay their eggs. The males develop first, they are wingless but have stronger jaws, which they use to chew their way to freedom from their host ovule. Once free, they chew free the females, copulating with them while the females are still largely trapped in their ovules -this ensures each female has sex, females which do not copulate will only produce males as offspring. The males also chew holes through the walls of the fig and open up the ostiole (a small opening at the apex of the fig), allowing the females to escape. Meanwhile, the male flowers within the fig finally shed their pollen, which adhere to the females in specialised pockets or simply onto their body surface. The females search for a new fig in which to lay their eggs, and upon arriving upon one must embark upon their greatest challenge: forcing their way within through the ostiole.[12][23] Although the wasps are quite minuscule, they nonetheless regularly undertake reasonable journeys, as can be seen in the genetic structure of the fig tree populations: there is clear evidence of abundant outcrossing in the nuclear DNA (which is transported in the pollen dusted on the females, as opposed to mitochondrial DNA).[12] The ostiole is barred by a series of bracts, but unlike in many other Ficus species, only the uppermost ostiolar bracts are interlocking and patent, with the inner bracts positioned inward and relatively open, thus forming a long slit-like tunnel allowing access to the central cavity.[10][23] Nevertheless, entering the cavity is a strenuous task, and the females are often die in the tunnel, or are damaged by the ordeal, with their wings invariably torn off from forcing their way through the bracts. Once inside, the females inject their eggs with their ovipositor, through the styles of the correct length, into the ovules: one egg an ovule. While doing so, the females pollinate the other flowers when walking around on the synstigmatic surface. The seeds and the larvae mature in a few weeks, at approximately the same rate.[23]

It uses

Alouatta palliata), with one troop on Barro Colorado Island spending one quarter of its time feeding on these two types of trees. The asynchronous plant characteristics, and the food preference of the monkeys, results in the monkeys adopting specific foraging routes in order to check up on the status of as much of the potential trees as can be done efficiently.[22]

Uses

The latex is sold in South America as an anthelmintic, marketed as 'doctor oje' (ojé in Brazil). An analysis of overdoses in one area of Peru found only 3 cases that were apparently fatal and 39 cases requiring hospitalization over a 12 year period, which, based on an analysis of probable sales in the region, amounted to very low 0.01–0.015% fatality and 0.13–0.2% hospitalization rates.[25] The authors concluded the product was safe when dosed properly. No serious adverse effects were observed in any of several clinical trials on the product conducted in Peru, except for possibly one miscarriage in one 18-year-old woman (who did not disclose her pregnancy to those running the clinical trial) receiving a very low dose of ojé.[26]

The latex can be purified, leaving a complex of enzymes known as

ficin, a white powder that was first produced in 1930.[27] This product is likely safe.[27]
It was initially observed that intestinal nematodes dissolved in a ficin solution, which increased interest in the product at the time as an anthelmintic, although it was not widely adopted.

Ficin is a mix of different enzymes and can be produced from many different species of Ficus. The main proteolytic enzyme found in ficin produced from F. insipida has officially been named

arteries before transplantation into humans,[27] and for unmasking antigens in serology.[28] It is similarly used for cleaning the animal intestines used as sausage or cheese-casings. It is used as an additive to make freeze-resistant beer, and has been added to certain formulations of meat tenderizers along with related protease-type enzymes.[27]

According to Schultes and Raffauf in their 1990 book The Healing Forest, the fruit of Ficus anthelmintica (an antiquated

memory enhancer'.[29]

Conservation

As of 2021, the conservation status has not been assessed by the

Estación Biológica La Selva, Carara National Park, Corcovado National Park,[18] and Jairo Mora Sandoval Gandoca-Manzanillo Mixed Wildlife Refuge.[21]

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-1.RLTS.T61886011A143296405.en
    . Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Ficus insipida Willd". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Todzia, Carol A. (March 2020). "Ficus insipida Willd". Flora de Nicaragua (in Spanish). Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  4. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.727
    .
  5. ^
    ISBN 90-9000987-6
    .
  6. ^
    doi:10.2307/2394704
    . Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  7. ^ a b c d Vázquez Avila, M.; Cees, Berg; Kooy, F. (1984). "New taxa of South American Ficus (Moraceae)" (PDF). Acta Amazonica. 14 (2, suppl.): 199, 201. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i González, J. (5 December 2016). "Ficus insipida Willd". Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica (in Spanish). Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  9. JSTOR 4135449
    .
  10. ^
    doi:10.3767/000651906x622409
    .
  11. ^ Rønsted, N.; G.D. Weiblen; W.L. Clement; et al. (2008). "Reconstructing the phylogeny of figs (Ficus, Moraceae) to reveal the history of the fig pollination mutualism" (PDF). Symbiosis. 45 (1–3): 45–56.
  12. ^
    PMC 4368618
    .
  13. ^ a b c Pérez, Rolando; Condit, Richard. "Ficus insipida". Trees, Shrubs, and Palms of Panama. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Center for Tropical Forest Science. Archived from the original on 23 June 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  14. ISBN 978-0-8047-0950-7
    . Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  15. ISBN 978-0-691-14710-9
    . Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  16. ^
    U.S. Department of Agriculture
    . 19 June 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  17. ^ a b c "Ficus insipida Willd". Tropicos. Missouri Botanical Garden. 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  18. ^ a b c d e Gonzalez, Jose; Ocampo, Mery (4 April 2011). "Ficus insipida". Biodiversity of Costa Rica (in Spanish). Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  19. Universidad Nacional de Colombia
    . Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  20. Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro
    . Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  21. ^ a b "ontrato de Realización de los Diseños del Proyecto Específico de Senderización y Aprovechamiento Turístico Sostenible con Participación Comunitaria en el Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Gandoca – Manzanillo" (PDF) (in Spanish). Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad. May 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-05-15. Retrieved 2021-05-20.
  22. ^
    ISBN 978-0-226-06339-3
    . Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  23. ^
    JSTOR 4393905
    .
  24. ^ Horn, Michael H. (1997). "Evidence for Dispersal of Fig Seeds by the Fruit-Eating Characid Fish Brycon guatemalensis Regan in a Costa Rican Tropical Rain Forest". Oecologia. 109 (2): 259–264. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  25. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2004.12.029
    (HTML abstract)
  26. doi:10.1016/0378-8741(86)90053-x
  27. ^ a b c d "Ficin". Vitamins & Supplements. WebMD LLC. 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  28. ^ a b Perelló, Mario; Arribére, María Cecilia; Caffini, Néstor; Priolo, Nora (2000): Proteolytic Enzymes from the Latex of Ficus pumila L. (Moraceae).Acta Farm Bonaerense 19(4): 257–262.
  29. ^ Rodrigues, Eliana; Rieli Mendes, Fúlvio; Negri, Giuseppina (2006). "Plants indicated by Brazilian Indians to Central Nervous System disturbances: A bibliographical approach". Current Medicinal Chemistry. 6: 211–244. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  30. ^ "Moraceae" (in Portuguese). Centro Nacional de Conservação da Flora. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  31. IUCN
    . Retrieved 13 August 2021.
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