"Contains the taxonomic treatment of Ficus (Moraceae) for Malesia, i.e., the area covering the countries Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea."
"A pantropical genus of terrestrial and hemi-epiphytic trees and shrubs or climbers with a unique inflorescence (syconium, fig). This forms the basis of a unique and complex pollination system requiring flowering phenologies that make mature inflorescences highly important as food source for forest animals. Large-scale economic value is confined to production of indoor and outdoor ornamental trees.
The genus, the largest of the 37 genera of the family, comprises about 735 species worldwide and 367 currently recognised in the Malesian region."
The genus is subdivided into six subgenera:
-Ficus
-Pharmacosycea
-Sycidium
-Sycomorus
-Synoecia
-Urostigma
And look what I found in the foreword!
"Are all botanists crazy? I began to think that anyone who would bother with such a genus as Eurgenia must be a bit off; to say nothing of those who like to play with Ficus." (from a letter of Merrill to Lam, 23 August 1949)
Photo copyright Antonie van Den Bos, http://www.aycronto.com/ (Ficus carica)
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