ABOVE: Mass production of Ficus altissima clones for sale as house plants in Florida USA.
Ficus altissima is a common large strangling fig fig with a very wide distribution from northern India east to Thailand and the Philippines south to Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi.
Ficus altissima is one of the most common strangling figs in Thailand, Java and SW China but has never been recorded from Borneo and is rare in the Malay Peninsula. See the distribution map at the bottom of this article.
This disjunct distribution indicates that Ficus altissima was more widely distributed in the past and has become locally extinct in Borneo, Singapore and the southern half of the Malay Peninsula. From the map it is clear that Ficus altissima prefers colder dryer and more seasonal climates than Borneo. As the Bornean climate has become hotter and wetter over the last 20,000 years this reduction range is almost certainly the result of climate change.
Important Note: It is quite possible that there is a relict population of Ficus altissima somewhere in Borneo, which has been overlooked, most probably in south Kalimantan.
Photo above shows a Ficus altissima cultivar Golden Gem in a plant nursery in Florida, USA . See https://www.heartplants.com/ficus
