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Pollination of Ficus elastica: India rubber re-establishes sexual reproduction in Singapore.


ABSTRACT: Ficus elastica, otherwise known as India Rubber (although its geographical origins are unclear), was an important source of latex in the early 19th century and was widely cultivated in tropical Asia. Like all figs, F. elastica is dependent on tiny, highly specific wasps for pollination, and detailed studies based out of Singapore in the 1930s suggested that through the loss of its pollinator F. elastica was extinct in the wild. However, around 2005 wild seedlings of F. elastica began appearing in Singapore. We identified the pollinator as Platyscapa clavigera, which was originally described from F. elastica in Bogor in 1885. A visit to Bogor Botanical Gardens revealed that not only was F. elastica being pollinated by P. clavigera in the gardens, but there was clear evidence it had been reproducing naturally there over many decades. Although Singapore has a native fig flora of over 50 species, F. elastica went unpollinated for at least 70 years and probably from the time it was introduced during the 19th century. These observations illustrate the extraordinary specificity of this interaction and, through the fig's ability to wait for its pollinators, demonstrates one way in which such highly specific interactions can be evolutionarily stable.

SUBMITTER: Harrison RD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5599632 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Pollination of Ficus elastica: India rubber re-establishes sexual reproduction in Singapore.

Harrison Rhett D RD   Chong Kwek Yan KY   Pham Nguyet Minh NM   Yee Alex T K ATK   Yeo Chow Khoon CK   Tan Hugh T W HTW   Rasplus Jean-Yves JY  

Scientific reports 20170914 1


Ficus elastica, otherwise known as India Rubber (although its geographical origins are unclear), was an important source of latex in the early 19<sup>th</sup> century and was widely cultivated in tropical Asia. Like all figs, F. elastica is dependent on tiny, highly specific wasps for pollination, and detailed studies based out of Singapore in the 1930s suggested that through the loss of its pollinator F. elastica was extinct in the wild. However, around 2005 wild seedlings of F. elastica began  ...[more]

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