Ficus Dammaropsis

Ficus dammaropsis

Ficus dammaropsis, the highland breadfruit, locally called kapiak in Tok Pisin, is a tropical dioecious evergreen fig, of the family Moraceae, with huge pleated leaves 60 cm (24 in) across and up to 90 cm (3 ft) in length. on petioles as much as 32 cm (13 in) long and 2.5 cm (0.98 in) thick. These emerge from a stipular sheath up to 38 cm (15 in) long, the largest of any dicot. It is native to the highlands and highland fringe of New Guinea. It generally grows at altitudes of between 850 and 2,750 metres. Its fruit, the world's largest fig (syconium), up to 18 cm (7 in) in diameter are edible but rarely eaten except as an emergency food. There are two fruit colour variants in Ficus dammaropsis, red and green. They are pollinated by the tiny fig wasp Ceratosolen abnormis. The young leaves are pickled or cooked and eaten as a vegetable with pig meat by highlanders.