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 19^th 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 h

SUBMITTER: Harrison RD 

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

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature