Ficus microcarpa

Chinese fig ( Ficus microcarpa )

The Chinese fig ( Ficus microcarpa ), also laurel fig or Indian laurel called, is a plant from the family of the mulberry family ( Moraceae ). This kind is in Nepal, northern India, Bangladesh, Burma, southern China, home of Malaysia to the Solomon Islands and northern tropical Australia. The varieties of this species are planted as an ornamental and shade on streets in parks and gardens throughout the tropics.

Description

Vegetative characteristics

Ficus microcarpa grows as a evergreen tree and usually reaches stature heights 15-25 meters with trunk diameters of up to 50 cm. The tree crown is spreading wide. The bark is dark gray. The bark of the branches is initially fluffy hairy, later smooth and medium to dark brown. Older branches often form rust-colored aerial roots. The growing tip is blunt. In plants, there is a white milky sap. The Chinese pear can be propagated by cuttings.

The exchange constant arranged leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The smooth sheet stem is 5 to 10 mm long. The more or less leathery, simple leaf blade is narrow elliptical and has a length of 4 to 8 cm and a width of 3 to 4 cm. The upper leaf surface is glossy dark green, but becomes dark brown when dry. The main nerve passes through almost the entire page, each page three to ten wires which branch off from the main nerve. The leaf margin is smooth. The lanceolate stipules are about 0.8 cm long.

Generative characteristics and ecology

Ficus microcarpa is monoecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( monoecious ). The figs are axillary and paired on leafy branches or non- leafed branches. The yellow when ripe to slightly reddish figs are spherical - ovoid and reach a diameter of 6 to 8 mm. The bracts are broadly ovate. In each fig ( it is the inflorescence) are fertile male, female and sterile flowers ( the sterile hot Gallblüten ), which are surrounded by a few short bristles. The male flowers may be short stalks; they have three spatulate to ovate sepals and only one stamen, the filament is longer than the anthers. The female flowers are sessile (ie sessile ) and have three broadly ovate sepals and a more or less lateral stylus, which ends in a short, club-shaped scar. The Gallblüten are stalked. The flowering time is usually between May and June.

Need to obtain mature seeds are pollinated the flowers by the fig wasp ( Agaonidae ) Parapristina verticillata. This fig wasp can lay their eggs only in the fruits of the Chinese fig, and the plant can not grow without the presence of this insect generative. Fruit, in which the wasp can lay their eggs, are available all year round.

The indehiscent fruit is egg-shaped and ripens from August to December. The seeds are less than 1 mm. You have the ability to germinate almost anywhere, even on other trees, on rooftops or in concrete columns. They spread by the fact that the fruits are eaten by birds, rodents and bats and excreted at a different location.

Dissemination and use

The natural habitat of the Chinese prickly extends across South and Southeast Asia (Bhutan, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Taiwan), New Guinea, northern tropical Australia, New Caledonia and the Ryukyu islands. Ficus microcarpa populated humid regions of the plains to the mountains, up to altitudes of 1900 meters.

Man the Chinese fig was common in all tropical areas of the world since the beginning of the 20th century. Today it is the most commonly encountered street and park tree in the warm and humid regions of North, Central and South America. So long was the wasp Parapristina verticillata not present in these regions, they could be practically increased only by humans. The wasp was introduced intentionally in the sequence by the people (about 1921 in Hawaii) or unintentionally with fruits on ships. Where plant and wasp are found, the Chinese pear is considered invasive plant species., It is also used as a shade tree.

Enemies

Among the insects that infest the Chinese fig, include the thrips Gynaikothrips ficorum, inflicts visible corrosion damage on the leaves, or the wasp Josephiella.

System

The species name Ficus microcarpa was first published in 1782 by Carolus Linnaeus the Younger in Supplementum Plantarum, p 442.

There are a variety of synonyms for Ficus microcarpa L. f are: Ficus amblyphylla ( Miquel ) Miquel, F. cairnsii Warburg, F. condaravia Buchanan - Hamilton, F. littoralis Blume, F. microcarpa var crassifolia ( WCShieh ) Liao, F. microcarpa var fuyuensis JCLiao, F. microcarpa var oluangpiensis JCLiao, F. microcarpa var pusillifolia JCLiao, F. retusa var crassifolia WCShieh, F. retusiformis H.Léveillé, F. rubra Roth, Ficus nitida auct. non flower, Urostigma amblyphyllum Miquel, Urostigma microcarpa ( L. f ) Miquel.

Ficus microcarpa belongs to the subgenus Urostigma in the Ficus genus.

Swell

• Zhengyi Wu, Zhe - Kun Zhou & Michael G. Gilbert: Moraceae in the Flora of China, Volume 5, 2003, p 44: Ficus microcarpa - Online. (Section Description and systematics)
• Abdul Ghafoor: Moraceae in the Flora of Pakistan: Ficus microcarpa - Online. (Section Description and systematics)