Volume 10 > Part 4 > Year 2011 > Page 605 > Moraceae > Ficus

URO6. Ficus benjamina L.wfo-0000687511

Mant. 1: 129. 1767; Miq., Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugd. Bat. 3: 267. 1867; Kurz, Forest Fl. Burma 2: 446. 1877; King, Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. (Calcutta) 1(1): 43, t. 52. 1887; Ridl., Fl. Malay Penins. 3: 336. 1924; Gagnep., Fl. Indo-Chine 5: 766. 1928; Kochummen, Tree Fl. Malaya 3: 141. 1978; Kochummen, Tree Fl. Sabah & Sarawak 3: 262. 2000; C.C.Berg & Corner, Fl. Males., Ser. 1, Spermat. 17(2): 631. 2005.— Urostigma benjaminum (L.) Miq., London J. Bot. 6: 583. 1847. Fig. 34. Plate LXX: 3.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Tree to 35 m tall, hemi-epiphytic or (secondarily?) terrestrial (or shrub). Branches drying brown, greyish or blackish. Leafy twigs 1–2(–3) mm thick, angular to subterete, glabrous (or white puberulous); periderm often flaking off. Leaves spirally arranged to subdistichous; lamina elliptic, oblong or (sub)ovate, 2–14 by 1.5–6(–8) cm, coriaceous, apex (sub)acuminate, base rounded to obtuse (to cuneate or subattenuate), margin flat, often callose towards the base; upper and lower surface glabrous; midrib (almost) flush, lateral veins 6–12(–16) pairs, the basal pair ± to hardly distinct, to 1/20–1/5(–1/4) the length of the lamina, unbranched, tertiary venation parallel to the lateral veins; waxy gland at the base of the midrib; petiole 0.5–1.5(–2) cm long, 1–1.5(–2) mm thick, glabrous (or sparsely white puberulous towards the base), drying pale brown; stipules 0.5–1.5(–2.8) cm long, glabrous (or white puberulous to subtomentose), often drying pale brown to straw-coloured, caducous. Figs axillary, paired (or solitary), sessile; basal bracts 3, 0.5–3.5 mm long, unequal (or subequal), glabrous or white puberulous, persistent; receptacle subglobose to ellipsoid to obovoid (and substipitate) or subpyriform, 0.5–1(–1.8) cm diam. When dry, glabrous or whitish puberulous to subtomentose, yellow, orange or dark red (or pink to purple) at maturity, apex convex to slightly concave, ostiole 1.5–2 mm diam., flat or slightly prominent by a low rim, ± open or closed, the upper ostiolar bracts usually not fully (or sometimes fully) imbricate, sometimes minutely puberulous; wall ± shrivelled (to ribbed) to almost smooth (or pustulate) when dry; internal hairs present, sparse. Tepals (partly) red. Ovary partly red to whitish.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lampang, Phitsanulok; NORTH EASTERN: Loei, Sakon Nakhon, Mukdahan; EASTERN: Nakhon Ratchasima; SOUTH-WESTERN: Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan; CENTRAL: Saraburi, Nakhon Nayok, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (Bangkok); SOUTH-EASTERN: Chon Buri, Trat; PENINSULAR: Phuket, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Trang, Satun, Songkhla, Narathiwat.

Distribution : Pakistan, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, India (type, NE, Andaman Islands), S China, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Peninsular and Bornean Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia (throughout), the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Australia.

Ecology : Dry evergreen and evergreen forests, also on limestone rocks (hemi epilithic?), to 1,300 m; also cultivated.

Vernacular : Cha-roei (จาเรย)(Khmer); sai (ไทร)(Nakhon Si Thammarat); sai phan (ไทรพัน)(Lampang); sai kra bueang (ไทรกระเบื้อง)(Prachuap Khiri Khan); sai yoi (ไทรย้อย), sai yoi bai laem (ไทรย้อยใบแหลม)(Bangkok, Trat).

CommonName : Golden fig.

Notes: Two forms occur: a. entirely glabrous on all parts and b. whitish puberulous (to subtomentose) on leafy twigs, petioles, stipules, and fig receptacles. In the latter form the leafy twigs tend to be more pronouncedly angular, the stipules (to 2.8 cm) and basal bracts longer (2.5–3.5 mm). This hairy form is known from Kanchanaburi and Trat, occurring on limestone (as small trees or shrubs); it needs further attention.