Ficus altissima

Species: Ficus altissima

English Name: Lofty Fig

Chinese Name: 高山榕

Family: Moraceae

Description:

Trees, 25-30 m tall, d.b.h. 40-90 cm. Bark gray, smooth. Branchlets green, ca. 1 cm thick, pubescent. Stipules 2-3 cm, thickly leathery, with gray silky hairs. Petiole robust, 2-5 cm; leaf blade broadly ovate to broadly ovate-elliptic, 10-19 × 8-11 cm, thickly leathery, glabrous, base broadly cuneate, margin entire, apex obtuse, acute; basal lateral veins long, secondary veins 5-7 on each side of midvein, reticulate venation clearly defined in dry leaf. Figs axillary on leafy branchlets, paired, red or yellow when mature, ellipsoid-ovoid, 1.7-2.8 cm, sometimes pubescent when very young, glabrous when mature, apical pore navel-like, convex, sessile; involucral bracts hoodlike, covering young fig, caducous, apex broadly obtuse, scar ringlike. Male, gall, and female flowers within same fig. Male flowers: scattered; calyx lobes 4, transparent, membranous; stamen 1. Gall flowers: sepals 4; style subapical, long. Female flowers: sessile; sepals 4; style elongated. Achenes tuberculate. Fl. Mar-Apr, fr. May-Jul.

Photos used under a Creative Commons license

References:

– Wu ZY, Raven PH, Hong DY (eds) (2003). Flora of China, Volume 5: Ulmaceae through Basellaceae. Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Bot Garden Press, St. Louis