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Family • Moraceae
Payapa
Balete
Ficus payapa Blanco
HAIRY FIG
Zhen guo rong

Scientific names Common names
Ficus payapa Blanco Balete (Ig.)
Ficus drupacea Thunberg Basakla (Ilk.)
Ficus forstenii Miq. Dalagit (Bis.)
Ficus myorensis B. Heyne ex Roth Dalakit (C. Bis.)
Ficus pilosa Reinw. ex Blume Lañgaban (Mag.)
Ficus indica Blanco ? Nonok (Bis., Tak.)
  Payapa (Tag.)
  Puos (Itn.)
  Puspus (Ilk.)
  Brown wooly fig (Engl.)
  Hairy fig (Engl.)
  Payapa fig (Engl.)
Worldwide there are over 800 species of the genus Ficus (Latin: fig) and of the more than 10 species found in the Philippines, Balete is a shared common name for six of them: (1) Ficus benjamina, salisi (2) Ficus elastica, Indian rubber tree (3) Ficus indica, baleteng-baging (4) Ficus payapa, payapa (5) Ficus retusa, marabutan, and (6) Ficus stipulosa, botgo.

Other vernacular names
CHINESE: Zhen guo rong.
MALAY: Bulu timun (Java).
SPANISH: Higuera de Mysore.
VIETNAMESE: Cây Đa lông.

Botany
Payapa is a plant that starts as an epiphyte, like any strangling fig. Leaves are rigidly leathery, smooth, oblong to ovately elliptic, the smaller one oblanceolate, averaging 15 centimeters long and nearly half as wide, with blunt or rounded tip. Fruit is ellipsoid, about 2 centimeters in length, smooth and shining, hard, dull red, sessile, and subtended by 2 to 3 very small ovate bracts or ebracteolate.

Distribution
- In forests at low and medium altitudes throughout the Philippines.
- Also occurs in Borneo, Celebes, and Timor.

Constituents
-Study of leaves yielded a new megastigmane, 4'-dihydrophaseate sodium, one new benz- enediol glucoside, 1,4-di-O-β-glucopyranosyl-2-(1,1-dimethyl- propenyl)benzene, along with nine known compounds. (3)

Properties
 Vulnerary.

Parts used
Roots, leaves.

Uses
Folkloric
- Powdered roots applied to wounds used as vulnerary.
- Leaves of F. drupacea used to treat malaria, paragonimiasis, nasosinusitis, sinusitis, and anasarca. (3)

Studies
• a-Glucosidase Inhibitory Effect / Antidiabetic: Study of leaves yielded a new megastigmane, 4'-dihydrophaseate sodium, one new benz- enediol glucoside, 1,4-di-O-β-glucopyranosyl-2-(1,1-dimethyl- propenyl)benzene, along with nine known compounds. Compound 6 showed the strongest a-glucosidase inhibitory activity. Results suggest F. drupacea is a possible source of oleanolic acid, which may be useful in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. (3)

Availability
Wild-crafted.

Last Update May 2013
IMAGE SOURCE: Banyan / File:Ficus pumila Blanco1.203-cropped.jpg / Francisco Manuel Blanco / Flora de Filipinas / Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Ficus payapa Blanco / The PLANT List
(2)
Sorting Ficus names / MULTILINGUAL MULTISCRIPT PLANT NAME DATABASE
(3)
Chemical Constituents of Ficus drupacea Leaves and Their α-Glucosidase Inhibitory Activities / Phan Van Kiem et al / Bull. Korean Chem. Soc. 2013, Vol. 34, No. 1 / http://dx.doi.org/10.5012/bkcs.2013.34.1.263

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