Ficus hispida L.f. - MORACEAE

Synonym : Ficus oppositifolia Roxb.

Vernacular names : Tamil: Chona-atthi; Pei-atthiMalayalam: Erumanakku; Kattatthi; Parakam; Thonditherakam; Pavakom; Paeyathi; Perimteragam; Peyattiparaka; ValliteragamKannada: Kad-atthi; Paare mara

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Shrubs to medium sized trees, up to 10 m tall.
Trunk & Bark : Bark brownish, lenticellate; blaze pink.
Branches and branchlets : Branchlets terete, with hollow internodes, densely hispid with brown or grey hairs, lenticellate.
Exudates : Latex creamy white, profuse.
Leaves : Leaves simple, opposite, decussate; stipules to 2.5 x 1 cm, caducous, leaving annular scar; petiole 1-10 cm long, canaliculate, hispid; lamina 7-35 x3-16 (40 x 18 cm in saplings), elliptic-oblong, narrow ovate, narrow obovate, apex caudate-acuminate, base rounded subcordate or truncate-subcordate, margin entire or dentate sometimes irregularly toothed, scabrid on both surface, hispid beneath; midrib slightly raised above; 3-nerved at base; secondary_nerves 4-9 pairs, often branched, ascending; tertiary_nerves broadly reticulo-percurrent.
Inflorescence / Flower : Inflorescence syconia, clustered on tubercles of main trunk, older branches and sometimes on pendulous leafless branches; flowers unisexual.
Fruit and Seed : Syconium, globose, up to 2.5 cm across.

Ecology :

Trees in disturbed evergreen to semi-evergreen forests up to 1200 m.

Distribution :

Distribution Indomalaysia to Australia; in the Western_Ghats- throughout.

Literatures :

Suppl. Pl. 442. 1781; Gamble, Fl. Madras 3: 1367.1998 (re.ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 440. 2004; Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 1: 117. 1984; Cook, Fl. Bombay 2: 653. 1902; Almeida, Fl. Maharashtra 4b: 368. 2003.

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