Ficus elastica

Species: Ficus elastica

English Name: Indian Rubber Tree

Chinese Name: 印度榕

Family: Moraceae

Description:

Trees, 20-30 m tall, d.b.h. 25-40 cm, epiphytic when young. Bark pale gray, smooth. Branchlets strong. Stipules dark red, ca. 10 cm, membranous; scar conspicuous. Petiole robust, 2-5 cm; leaf blade oblong to elliptic, 8-30 × 7-10 cm, thickly leathery, abaxially pale green, adaxially dark green and shiny, base broadly cuneate, margin entire, apex acute; secondary veins many, closely parallel, inconspicuous. Figs axillary on leafless branchlets, paired, yellowish green, ovoid-ellipsoid, ca. 10 × 5-8 mm, subsessile; involucral bracts hoodlike, caducous, scar conspicuous. Male, gall, and female flowers within same fig. Male flowers: scattered among other flowers, pedicellate; calyx lobes 4, ovate; stamen 1; filament absent; anther ovoid-ellipsoid. Gall flowers: sepals 4; ovary ovoid, smooth; style subapical, curved. Female flowers: sessile; style persistent, long; stigma enlarged, ± capitate. Achenes ovoid, tuberculate. Fl. winter.

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