Sea Fig (HT 2003 78)

Reference ID
HT 2003-78

Scientific name: Ficus superba
Family name: Moraceae
Girth: 11.8 m @ 1.3 m height
Height: 24.2 m

Location
Food Centre Car Park
opposite Eastwood Centre

A large deciduous tree that grows up to 30 m in height, the Sea Fig bears a wide and spreading crown. It has relatively large leaves that can grow up to 25 cm long by 12 cm wide and are slightly heart-shaped. Its figs on the other hand are relatively small at about 1 cm in diameter, and ripen from pale yellow and eventually to purple. They are set in bunches on small woody knobs on the twigs and branches. This strangler fig has large spreading branches and produces many aerial roots from the branches, trunk and base of its lower limbs.

As with many other Ficus species, the figs are a reliable source of food for fruit-eating animals such as the Pink-necked Green Pigeon (Treron vernans), Coppersmith Barbet (Megalaima haemacephala) and Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier).

The Sea Fig is endangered in and native to Singapore, and widely distributed from Japan, China, Indochina, and Malesia to Australia.

Here where this Tree stands marks the end of Upper East Coast Road before it turns into the present Bedok Road. In the past, the sea was just opposite across the road, and the area was popular for the many food stalls that lined the shore before land reclamation started in the 1960s. This Heritage Tree had a girth of 4.9m when measured in Year 2003.

For more information on this species, please refer to NParks Flora & Fauna Web profile here.

Gallery

📷: Heritage Tree Secretariat