Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang

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Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang
Awkeotsang Makino Corner.JPG
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Moraceae
Genus: Ficus
Species:
Variety:
F. p. var. awkeotsang
Trinomial name
Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang

Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang, also known as the jelly fig, aiyu, or ai-yu, is a variety of Ficus pumila , and a member of the fig family Moraceae, native to Taiwan. [1] The plant is known for its use in making aiyu jelly.

Contents

Etymology

The words "Awkeotsang" (Chinese :薁蕘欉; Tâi-lô :ò-giô-tsâng) and "Aiyu" (Chinese :愛玉; pinyin :àiyù) are the Taiwanese Hokkien and Mandarin Chinese forms of the name of the daughter of the individual who discovered the plant's gel-forming properties in 1921. [2]

Biogeography

Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang is the first fig genus presented in Taiwan by Japanese botanist Tomitaro Makino. [3] Later, English botanist E.J.H. Corner classified awkeotsang as a variation of Ficus pumila. There is another variety of Ficus pumila : Ficus pumila var. pumila, also known as creeping fig, is widespread across East Asia. [4] [5]

The fig often grows near a betel nut palm tree with a tall trunk, which fig uses as a support to climb. [6]

Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang is endemic to Taiwan, and has introduced to southern China by humans because of its agricultural importance. [7] [8] After imported to China, Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang pollinators have shifted host to Ficus pumila L. var. pumila. [4]

There are differences between Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang and Ficus pumila L. var. pumila, including leaf shape, syconia size, phenology, and habitat preference. Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang prefers altitudes from 1200 to 1900 meters, while Ficus pumila L. var. pumila prefers lowlands. [5]

Pollination

The relationship of fig and fig wasp is a classic example of obligate mutualism and coevolution. Only pollinating wasps pollinate the figs, while fig wasps only lay their eggs inside the fig ovules. [9] [10]

Ficus pumila is a dioecious species. [4] Male Ficus pumila trees have both male florets and short-styled female florets, which is for feeding the larvae. [11] Female Ficus pumila trees have long-styled female florets, but they are not for pollinator oviposition. [11] A male Ficus pumila produces pollen, feeds and protects fig wasps larvae, while a female produces seeds. [4]

During oviposition, the larvae feed and mature with gall tissue, fig seeds and fig pollen grains. [9] [10]

When female wasps is mature, they leave their original figs and carry pollen to other fig trees. [9] [10]

Pollen grains stick to wasp bodies and fertilise ovules when they enter figs. [9] [10]

Use

Aiyu jelly Aiyu jelly by brappy! in Taipei.jpg
Aiyu jelly

The main use of this plant is its fruit seed, which is harvested to make aiyu jelly in Taiwan (known as ice jelly in Singapore). The jelly, when combined with sweeteners and lemon or lime juice is a favorite snack in Taiwanese night markets, Taiwanese farmers' markets and Singapore hawker centres.

Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang seeds contain pectin, a viscous gelation material. [12] Stirring and extracting the dried seeds with water for 15-20 minutes at room temperature, can obtain the gel easily. [12] It is noteworthy that Aiyu jelly does not require high temperature to form gel, which is different from other gel-forming material.

Aiyu jelly is beneficial for health too. It is able to retard blood glucose release, which can be used as natural blood glucose-controlling components. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Ficus</i> Genus of flowering plants in the mulberry family Moraceae

Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The common fig (F. carica) is a temperate species native to southwest Asia and the Mediterranean region, which has been widely cultivated from ancient times for its fruit, also referred to as figs. The fruit of most other species are also edible though they are usually of only local economic importance or eaten as bushfood. However, they are extremely important food resources for wildlife. Figs are also of considerable cultural importance throughout the tropics, both as objects of worship and for their many practical uses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fig wasp</span> Group of mostly pollinating insects whose larvae live in figs

Fig wasps are wasps of the superfamily Chalcidoidea which spend their larval stage inside figs. Some are pollinators but others simply feed off the plant. The non-pollinators belong to several groups within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, while the pollinators are in the family Agaonidae. Pollinating fig wasps are all gall-makers, non-pollinating fig wasps either make their own galls or usurp the galls of other fig wasps; reports of their being parasitoids are considered dubious.

<i>Ficus microcarpa</i> Species of fig

Ficus microcarpa, also known as Chinese banyan, Malayan banyan, Indian laurel, curtain fig, or gajumaru (ガジュマル), is a tree in the fig family Moraceae. It is native in a range from China through tropical Asia and the Caroline Islands to Australia. It is widely planted as a shade tree.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Syconium</span> Type of fruit produced by plants of the genus Ficus

Syconium is the type of fruit borne by figs, formed by an enlarged, fleshy, hollow receptacle with multiple ovaries on the inside surface. In essence, it is really a fleshy stem with a number of flowers, so it is considered both a multiple and accessory fruit.

<i>Ficus pumila</i> Species of climbing fig

Ficus pumila, commonly known as the creeping fig or climbing fig, is a species of flowering plant in the mulberry family, native to East Asia and naturalized in parts of the southeastern and south-central United States. It is also found in cultivation as a houseplant. The Latin specific epithet pumila means "dwarf", and refers to the very small leaves of the plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aiyu jelly</span> Jelly popular in Taiwan and Singapore

Aiyu jelly, known in Amoy Hokkien as ogio, and as ice jelly in Singapore, is a jelly made from the gel from the seeds of the awkeotsang creeping fig found in Taiwan and East Asian countries of the same climates and latitudes. The jelly is not commonly made or found outside of Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore, though it can be bought fresh in specialty stores in Japan and canned in Chinatowns. It is also used in Taiwanese cuisine.

<i>Ficus aurea</i> Species of strangler fig

Ficus aurea, commonly known as the Florida strangler fig, golden fig, or higuerón, is a tree in the family Moraceae that is native to the U.S. state of Florida, the northern and western Caribbean, southern Mexico and Central America south to Panama. The specific epithet aurea was applied by English botanist Thomas Nuttall who described the species in 1846.

<i>Pegoscapus</i> Genus of wasps

Pegoscapus is a genus of fig wasp native to the Americas. They range from Florida and Mexico in the north to Argentina in the south. Fig wasps have an obligate mutualism with the fig species they pollinate. Pegoscapus pollinates species in section Americana of the subgenus Urostigma.

Ficus maxima is a fig tree which is native to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and South America south to Paraguay. Figs belong to the family Moraceae. The specific epithet maxima was coined by Scottish botanist Philip Miller in 1768; Miller's name was applied to this species in the Flora of Jamaica, but it was later determined that Miller's description was actually of the species now known as Ficus aurea. To avoid confusion, Cornelis Berg proposed that the name should be conserved for this species. Berg's proposal was accepted in 2005.

<i>Ficus insipida</i> Species of fig tree from the Neotropics

Ficus insipida is a common tropical tree in the fig genus of the family Moraceae growing in forest habitats along rivers. It ranges from Mexico to northern South America.

<i>Ficus americana</i> Species of fig tree native to the Neotropics

Ficus americana, commonly known as the West Indian laurel fig or Jamaican cherry fig, is a tree in the family Moraceae which is native to the Caribbean, Mexico in the north, through Central and South America south to southern Brazil. It is an introduced species in Florida, USA. The species is variable; the five recognised subspecies were previously placed in a large number of other species.

<i>Ficus obliqua</i> A tree, the small-leaved fig

Ficus obliqua, commonly known as the small-leaved fig, is a tree in the family Moraceae, native to eastern Australia, New Guinea, eastern Indonesia to Sulawesi and islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Previously known for many years as Ficus eugenioides, it is a banyan of the genus Ficus, which contains around 750 species worldwide in warm climates, including the edible fig. Beginning life as a seedling, which grows on other plants (epiphyte) or on rocks (lithophyte), F. obliqua can grow to 60 m (200 ft) high and nearly as wide with a pale grey buttressed trunk, and glossy green leaves.

<i>Ficus septica</i> Species of fig

Ficus septica, also known as the Hauili fig tree, is a species of shrub or tree in the family Moraceae found at low altitudes from north-eastern India to northern Australia (Queensland), and throughout Malesia. It lives on the edge of the vegetation, often in degraded environments. The seeds of this species are dispersed by numerous species, including fruit bats (Megachiroptera) when present.

<i>Ficus hispida</i> Species of tropical fig tree

Ficus hispida, also known as the opposite leaf Fig, is a small tree in the family Moraceae, with a distribution ranging from India and southern China southwards to northern Australia. It is morphologically gynodioecious, but functionally dioecious. Male trees are hermaphrodites with both staminate flowers that produce pollen and pistillate flowers that produce almost no seeds but can form galls containing pollinator wasp larvae. Female trees have pistillate flowers that do produce seeds but are inhospitable to pollinator wasp larvae.

<i>Ficus subpisocarpa</i> Species of fig

Ficus subpisocarpa is a species of small deciduous tree native to Japan, China, Taiwan and southeast Asia to the Moluccas (Ceram). Two subspecies are recognised. Terrestrial or hemiepiphytic, it reaches a height of 7 m (23 ft). Ants predominantly of the genus Crematogaster have been recorded living in stem cavities. Ficus subpisocarpa is pollinated by Platyscapa ishiiana (Agaonidae).

<i>Blastophaga psenes</i> Species of wasp

Blastophaga psenes is a wasp species in the genus Blastophaga. It pollinates the common fig Ficus carica and the closely related Ficus palmata. These wasps breed in figs without the need for a colony or nest, and the adults live for only a few days or weeks. They locate the fig they wish to pollinate primarily using through olfaction.

<i>Ceratosolen</i> Genus of wasps

Ceratosolen is an Old World wasp genus in the family Agaonidae. They are pollinators of the monoecious fig subsections Sycomorus and Sycocarpus, and the section Neomorphe, all belonging to the subgenus Sycomorus. The genus is native to the Palearctic, Afrotropical, Indomalayan and Australasian realms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">O-aew</span> Shaved ice dessert popular in Phuket, Thailand

O-aew is a shaved ice dessert known as a local specialty of Phuket, Thailand. Introduced by Hokkien Chinese settlers, it is known after its main ingredient, a jelly made from seeds of the o-aew plant, an ingredient now most commonly found in Taiwan where it is known as aiyu jelly.

Wiebesia is a genus in the family Agaonidae. The scientific name of this genus was first published in 1988 by Boucek.

Wiebesia pumilae is a fig wasp species in Genus Wiebesia, Family Agaonidae. W. pumilae is the pollinator of Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang and Ficus pumila var. pumila. The scientific name was first published as Blastophaga pumilae in 1967 by Hill.

References

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