Ficus benghalensis |
Ficus microcarpa |
|
---|---|---|
banyan tree, Indian banyan |
Chinese banyan, Indian laurel |
|
Habit | Trees, evergreen, to 30 m. | Trees, evergreen, to 30 m. |
Roots | aerial, often descending to ground level and forming pillar-roots Bark of trunks and older branches brown, smooth. |
aerial, abundant, sometimes developing pillar-roots. |
Bark | gray. |
|
Branchlets | puberulent, glabrescent in age. |
brown, glabrous. |
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 elliptic, obovate to ovate, 3-11 × 1.5-6 cm, thinly leathery, base obtuse to cuneate, margins entire, apex nearly acute to acuminate; surfaces abaxially and adaxially glabrous; basal veins 1(-2) pairs; lateral veins 5-9 pairs, 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. |
paired, sessile, purple or black, obovoid, pyriform, or nearly globose, 9-11 × 5-6 mm; subtending bracts ovate-lanceolate, 1.5-3.5 mm, apex obtuse to subacute; ostiole closed by 3 flat, apical bracts 2-2.5 mm wide, umbonate. |
Ficus benghalensis |
Ficus microcarpa |
|
Phenology | Flowering all year. | Flowering all year. |
Habitat | Disturbed thickets | Disturbed sites |
Elevation | 0-10 m (0-0 ft) | 0-20 m (0-100 ft) |
Distribution |
FL; Asia (native to Pakistan and India) [Introduced in North America] |
FL; West Indies; native to Eastern Hemisphere [Introduced in North America] |
Discussion | Ficus microcarpa is commonly cultivated in Florida. At press time, word had been received (Michael O'Brien, pers. comm.) that F. microcarpa was recently found in the Los Angeles area, where the pollinating wasp apparently has been present since 1992. Voucher specimens are not yet available. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 3. | FNA vol. 3. |
Parent taxa | Moraceae > Ficus | Moraceae > Ficus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Urostigma microcarpa | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1059. (1753) | Linnaeus f.: Suppl. Pl., 442. (1782) |
Web links |