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

URO5. Ficus benghalensis L.wfo-0000687501

Sp. Pl. 1059. 1753; Vahl, Enum. Pl. 2: 187. 1805; Miq., Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugd. Bat. 3: 285. 1867; Kurz, Forest Fl. Burma 2: 440. 1877; King, Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. (Calcutta) 1(1): 18, t. 13. 1887; Ridl., Fl. Malay Penins. 3: 331. 1924; Corner, Revis. Handb. Fl. Ceylon, 1, 2: 136, t. 13. 1977; C.C.Berg & Corner, Fl. Males., Ser. 1, Spermat. 17(2): 630. 2005.— Perula benghalensis (L.) Raf., Sylv. Tellur.: 59. 1838.— Urostigma benghalense (L.) Gasp., Giorn. Bot. Ital. 2: 215. 1844.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Tree to 20 m or more tall, (in cultivation) terrestrial. Branches drying greyish to brown. Leafy twigs 5–10 mm thick, ± angular, whitish puberulous; periderm persistent or flaking off. Leaves in spirals; lamina ovate to elliptic, 7–30 by 4–20 cm, coriaceous, apex rounded, base cordate to rounded; upper surface sparsely white puberulous on the midrib, lower surface whitish puberulous on the midrib and lateral veins; midrib slightly prominent to flush above, lateral veins 5–6 pairs, the basal pair distinct, to ⅓–½ the length of the lamina, departing 3–5 mm above the base of the lamina, branched, tertiary venation reticulate; waxy gland at the base of the midrib; petiole 2–7 cm long, 2–4 mm thick, whitish puberulous, drying brown to blackish; stipules 1.5–3.5 cm long, densely whitish puberulous, caducous. Figs axillary, paired, sessile, initially enclosed in calyptrate bud covers to 1 cm long; basal bracts 3, 3–10 mm long, ± unequal in size and shape, minutely puberulous, persistent; receptacle depressed-globose, 1.2–1.8 cm diam. when dry, white puberulous (and often also with numerous minute brown hairs), red at maturity, apex convex, ostiole 2.5–3.5 mm diam., slightly prominent to flat, ± open, the 3 upper ostiolar bracts partly imbricate; wall ± shrivelled when dry; internal hairs absent. Tepals reddish. Ovary partly red.

Thailand : Cultivated as an ornamental plant.

Distribution : Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India (type), widely cultivated.

Vernacular : Krang (กร่าง)(Central); ni khrot (นิโครธ)(Bangkok); sai tok (ไทรตอก)(Nakhon Si Thammarat).

Notes: This species, the “banyan tree”, is often confused with Ficus altissima from which it can be distinguished by the less numerous lateral veins, the rounded apex of the lamina, the shape of the fig receptacle and its indumentum.