Ficus benghalensis |
Ficus citrifolia |
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banyan tree, Indian banyan |
wild banyan tree |
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Habit | Trees, evergreen, to 30 m. Roots aerial, often descending to ground level and forming pillar-roots Bark of trunks and older branches brown, smooth. | Shrubs or trees, evergreen, to 15 m. Roots adventitious, aerial, hanging. |
Bark | brownish, smooth. |
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Branchlets | puberulent, glabrescent in age. |
grayish, glabrous or sparingly pubescent. |
Leaves | blade ovate, 10-30 × 7-20 cm, leathery, base cordate, margins entire, apex obtuse; surfaces abaxially puberulent, adaxially glabrous; basal veins (2-)3-4 pairs, 1/3-1/2 length of blade, reticulations regular; lateral veins 5-6(-7) pairs. |
blade ovate to elliptic or obovate, 3-14 × 1.5-8 cm, nearly leathery, base usually cordate or rounded to obtuse, margins entire, apex obtuse to acute or acuminate; surfaces abaxially and adaxially glabrous; basal veins 1(-2) pairs; lateral veins fewer than 10, if more than 10, not uniformly spaced. |
Syconia | paired, sessile, orange or red, depressed-globose, 1.5-2 × 2-2.5 mm, pubescent; subtending bracts ovate, 3-7 mm, puberulous; ostiole closed by 3 flat or nearly umbonate apical bracts 3-4 mm wide. |
solitary or paired, pedunculate, yellow or red, spotted, globose to globose-ovoid, 8-18 mm diam., glabrous; peduncles to ca. 15 mm; subtending bracts 2, shortly connate, deltate or broadly rounded, 2-3 mm wide, glabrous or puberulent; ostiole subtended by 3 bracts, bracts ovate, ca. 1 × 2-3 mm, slightly umbonate. |
Ficus benghalensis |
Ficus citrifolia |
|
Phenology | Flowering all year. | Flowering spring–summer. |
Habitat | Disturbed thickets | Tropical hammocks |
Elevation | 0-10 m (0-0 ft) | 0-10 m (0-0 ft) |
Distribution |
FL; Asia (native to Pakistan and India) [Introduced in North America] |
FL; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies |
Discussion | Ficus citrifolia is the large and graceful banyan tree that is planted for shade around verandas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 3. | FNA vol. 3. |
Parent taxa | Moraceae > Ficus | Moraceae > Ficus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | F. brevifolia, F. laevigata, F. laevigata var. brevifolia, F. populifolia, F. populnea var. floridana, F. populnea var. brevifolia | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1059. (1753) | Miller: Gard. Dict. ed. 8. (1768) |
Web links |