Ficus citrifolia Mill.

Wild banyantree (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Rosales > Moraceae > Ficus

Characteristics

Trees to 16 m. tall, or in exposed places, a shrub 0.3-2 m. tall. Twigs 2-6 mm. in diameter, glabrous, with a thin yellowish periderm. Stipules 5-30 mm. long, narrowly deltoid, glabrous, sometimes somewhat glaucous. Lamina 1.5-12 cm. wide X 2.5-20 cm. long, lanceolate, ovate, elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate, elliptic-ovate, oblong, or obovate; apex acute to acuminate; base rounded, rounded-cuneate cuneate, or truncate, frequently emarginate or subcordate; lateral veins 4-16 pairs, departing from the midrib at an angle from 10?-40?; basal veins, departing.from the midrib at a similar angle, or to 600; intercostals not, or scarcely, prominent. Petiole 7-70 mm. long, slender, 1/2-1/7 (-1/8) the length of the lamina. Figs 6-12 [-15] mm. in diameter, globose, glabrous, borne among the leaves; color reddish or yellowish when ripe; peduncle 2-18 mm. long, glabrous or puberulent; basal bracts two, 2-3 mm. long, broadly deltoid to semicircular, with a hyaline margin, glabrous or puberulent; orifice 2-3 mm. in diameter, flat or very slightly raised.
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Shrubs or trees , evergreen, to 15 m. Roots adventitious, aerial, hanging. Bark brownish, smooth. Branchlets grayish, glabrous or sparingly pubescent. Leaves: stipules 0.5-2 cm, glabrous; petiole (0.7-)1.5-6 cm. Leaf blade ovate to elliptic or obovate, 3-14 × 1.5-8 cm, nearly leathery, base usually cordate or rounded to obtuse, margins entire, apex obtuse to acute or acuminate; surfaces abaxially and adaxially glabrous; basal veins 1(-2) pairs; lateral veins fewer than 10, if more than 10, not uniformly spaced. Syconia solitary or paired, pedunculate, yellow or red, spotted, globose to globose-ovoid, 8-18 mm diam., glabrous; peduncles to ca. 15 mm; subtending bracts 2, shortly connate, deltate or broadly rounded, 2-3 mm wide, glabrous or puberulent; ostiole subtended by 3 bracts, bracts ovate, ca. 1 × 2-3 mm, slightly umbonate.
A fig. It is a straggling tree. It grows 15 m tall. It can spread over a wide area with aerial roots. The leaves are dark green. They are oval shaped with a rounded base and pointed tip. The flowers are small and enclosed in the open ended fruit. The fruit are on the end of long stalks from the axils of leaves. They are round or oval and 6-12 mm long. The fruit turn yellow to dark red when ripe. The fruit is sweet.
Life form perennial
Growth form tree
Growth support hemiepiphyte
Foliage retention evergreen
Sexuality monoecy
Pollination entomogamy
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 15.0
Root system adventitious-root
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color -
Blooming months -
Fruit color
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

Forests, thickets, fence rows and roadsides. Plants of moist and wet evergreen forest formations from sea level to 1,200 metres.
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It is a tropical plant. In Argentina it grows from sea level to 1,500 m above sea level.
Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

Usage

The fruit are eaten raw. They have little taste.
Uses material medicinal seasoning wood
Edible flowers fruits
Therapeutic use Infection (unspecified), Masticatory (unspecified), Wound (unspecified), Vermifuge (unspecified), Wart (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Plants can be grown from cuttings.
Mode cuttings seedlings
Germination duration (days) 15 - 90
Germination temperacture (C°) 21 - 26
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Habit

Ficus citrifolia habit picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)
Ficus citrifolia habit picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)

Leaf

Ficus citrifolia leaf picture by Jean Luc Rabanier (cc-by-sa)
Ficus citrifolia leaf picture by Eduardo Bagagli (cc-by-sa)
Ficus citrifolia leaf picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)

Fruit

Ficus citrifolia fruit picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)
Ficus citrifolia fruit picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)
Ficus citrifolia fruit picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)

Distribution

Ficus citrifolia world distribution map, present in Anguilla, Argentina, Antigua and Barbuda, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Barbados, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Mexico, Montserrat, Martinique, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Paraguay, Turks and Caicos Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, United States Minor Outlying Islands, United States of America, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

Conservation status

Ficus citrifolia threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:316340-2
WFO ID wfo-0000687833
COL ID 6HVNJ
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID 629734
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR) Link

Synonyms

Ficus populoides f. syringifolia Ficus populnea subvar. sancti-eustachii Oluntos laevigata Urostigma planicostatum Urostigma sanctae-crucis Urostigma syringifolium Urostigma populneum Urostigma pedunculatum Ficus botryapioides Ficus brevifolia Ficus catesbaei Ficus caucana Ficus foveata Ficus guanarensis Ficus guaranitica Ficus lentiginosa Ficus subandina Caprificus gigantea Ficus gentlei Ficus gigantea Ficus oblongata Ficus pedunculata Ficus planicostata Ficus populoides Ficus portoricensis Ficus rubrinervis Ficus ruiziana Ficus sancti-crucis Ficus thomaea Ficus turbinata Ficus pyrifolia Ficus antimanensis Ficus populifolia Ficus rectinervis Urostigma lentiginosum Urostigma botryapioides Urostigma giganteum Ficus populnea Ficus laevigata Ficus syringifolia Ficus syringifolia Ficus citrifolia var. brevifolia (nutt.) d'arcy Ficus citrifolia subsp. brevifolia Ficus laevigata var. genuina Ficus laevigata var. lentiginosa Ficus lentiginosa var. imrayana Ficus lentiginosa var. subcuspidata Ficus populnea var. bahamensis Ficus populnea var. brevifolia Ficus populnea var. laevigata Ficus populnea var. lentiginosa Ficus populoides var. dilatata Ficus populoides var. elongata Ficus populoides var. maculosa Ficus laevigata var. brevifolia Ficus laevigata var. hispaniolae Ficus populnea var. hispaniolae Ficus pedunculata var. acuta Ficus eximia var. cubensis Ficus eximia f. paraguariensis Ficus foveolata Ficus populoides f. umbrifera Ficus populnea f. botryapioides Ficus populnea subvar. obliquicuspis Ficus populnea subvar. longipetiolata Ficus populnea subvar. flavicosta Ficus populnea subvar. cerasicarpa Ficus populnea subvar. sancta-crucis Ficus populnea subvar. portoricensis Ficus populnea subvar. floridana Ficus laevigata subvar. subcordata Ficus laevigata subvar. portoricensis Urostigma laevigatum Ficus caribaea Ficus citrifolia