Species: Ficus auriculata
English Name: Large-fruited Fig
Chinese Name: 大果榕
Family: Moraceae
Description:
Trees, 4-10 m tall, crown elongated and wide, d.b.h. 10-15 cm; dioecious. Bark grayish brown, rough. Branchlets reddish brown, 1-1.5 cm thick, leafless in middle of stem, pubescent. Stipules reddish purple, triangular-ovate, 1.5-2 cm, adaxially shortly pubescent. Leaves alternate; petiole thick, 5-8 cm; leaf blade broadly ovate-cordate, 15-55 × (10-)15-27 cm, thickly papery, abaxially with short spreading pubescence, adaxially glabrous or puberulent on midvein or secondary veins, base cordate to occasionally rounded, margin regularly shallowly dentate, apex obtuse and mucronate; basal lateral veins 4-6, secondary veins 3 or 4 on each side of midvein, abaxially prominent, and adaxially slightly impressed or flat. Figs on specialized leafless branchlets at base of trunk and main branches, reddish brown, pear-shaped, depressed globose, or top-shaped, with 8-12 conspicuous longitudinal ridges, 3-5(-6) cm in diam., white, shortly pubescent when young, glabrescent when mature; peduncle (2-)4-6 cm, thick, pubescent; involucral bracts triangular-ovate; apical bracts in 4 or 5 rows, broadly triangular-ovate, imbricate, rosulate. Male flowers: sessile; calyx lobes 3, transparent, spatulate, thinly membranous; stamens 2; filaments long; anthers ovoid. Gall flowers: calyx lobes 3, apically free, ± covering ovary; style lateral, hairy; stigma enlarged. Female flowers: pedicellate or sessile; calyx lobes 3; ovary ovoid; style lateral, longer than in gall flowers, with hairs. Achenes with adherent liquid. Fl. Aug-Mar, fr. May-Aug.
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