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Ficus elastica

(Ornamental Rubber Tree)

Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Assamese:

Athabor, Attah

Common Names in Bengali:

Bor

Common Names in Burmese:

Ganoi, Kanoi, Nyaung Kyetpaung

Common Names in Chinese:

Yin De Rong, Yin Du Rong

Common Names in Croatian:

Fikus, Gumijevac

Common Names in Danish:

Gummifigen

Common Names in Dutch:

Rubberplant;rubberboom

Common Names in English:

India Rubber Fig, India Rubber Plant, Indian Rubber Fig, Indian Rubber Tree, Indian Rubberplant, Indian Rubbertree, Ornamental Rubber Tree, Rubber Plant, Rubber Tree, Rubberplant

Common Names in French:

Arbre á Caoutchouc, Caoutchouc

Common Names in German:

Gummibaum

Common Names in Hindi:

Atta Bor, अटाबोर

Common Names in Kannada:

Rabra Chovad

Common Names in Portuguese:

Figueira-Indiana, Seringueira, Seringueira-De-Jardim

Common Names in Sanskrit:

Vat

Common Names in Slovenian:

Gumovec

Common Names in Spanish:

árbol Del Caucho, Gomero, Higuera Cauchera, Higuera De La India (Cuba), Planta Del Caucho

Common Names in Tamil:

Cimaiyal

Common Names in Thai:

Yang India

Description

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Family Moraceae

Trees , shrubs , vines , or rarely herbs, frequently with milky or watery latex, sometimes spiny . Stipules present, frequently caducous . Leaves alternate, rarely opposite; petiole often present and well-defined; leaf blade simple , sometimes with cystoliths , margin entire or palmately lobed , venation pinnate or palmate. Inflorescences axillary , frequently paired , racemose, spicate , capitate, or rarely cymose , sometimes a fig or syconium with flowers completely enclosed within a hollow receptacle. Flowers unisexual (plants monoecious or dioecious), small to very small. Calyx lobes (1 or) 2-4(-8), free or connate , imbricate or valvate . Corolla absent. Male flowers: stamens as many as and opposite to calyx lobes (except in Artocarpus), straight or inflexed in bud; anthers 1- or 2-loculed, crescent-shaped to top-shaped; pistillode (rudimentary sterile pistil) often present. Female flowers: calyx lobes usually 4; ovary superior, semi-inferior, or inferior, 1(or 2) -loculed; ovules 1 per locule, anatropous or campylotropous; style branches 1 or 2; stigmas usually filiform . Fruit usually a drupe, rarely an achene, enveloped by an enlarged calyx and/or immersed in a fleshy receptacle, often joined into a syncarp. Seed solitary; endosperm present or absent.

Between 37 and 43 genera and 1100â1400 species: widespread in tropical and subtropical areas, less common in temperate areas; nine genera and 144 species (26 endemic, five introduced ) in China.

Economically, the most important species are those of Morus and Maclura associated with the production of silk . Some species in Broussonetia, Maclura, and Morus are important for paper making; some species in Artocarpus, Ficus, and Morus have edible fruit; and some species of Artocarpus and Broussonetia are used for furniture or timber.[1]

Genus Ficus

Trees , shrubs , or woody vines , evergreen or deciduous, commonly epiphytic or scandent as seedlings; sap milky . Terminal buds surrounded by pair of stipules. Leaves alternate, monomorphic (dimorphic in F . pumila ) ; stipules caducous , fused, enclosing naked buds. Leaf blade : margins entire (lobed in F . carica ), rarely dentate ; venation pinnate or nearly palmate. Inflorescences small, borne on inner walls of fruitlike and fleshy receptacle (syconium) . Flowers: staminate and pistillate on same plant. Staminate flowers sessile or pedicellate ; calyx of 2-6 sepals; stamens 1-2, straight. Pistillate flowers sessile; ovary 1-locular; style unbranched, lateral . Syconia globose to pyriform ; achenes completely embedded in enlarged, fleshy, common receptacle and accessible by apical opening (ostiole) closed by small scales . x = 13.

Species ca. 750: tropics and subtropics, chiefly Asian.

Worldwide, Ficus is one of the largest genera of flowering plants . Members of the genus are usually treated as a separate tribe within Moraceae because of their unique inflorescence and wasp-dependent system of pollination.

The floral characters (especially of the American species, which are quite uniform ) are exceedingly difficult to use or of little value in distinguishing species. Therefore they are not used in the species descriptions. The form of the syconium, however, is often significant and taxonomically useful.[2]

Physical Description

Species Ficus elastica

Trees , evergreen , to 12 m , epiphytic when young. Roots aerial , abundant. Bark gray, smooth or slightly roughened. Branchlets greenish brown, glabrous . Leaves: stipules 3-10 cm; petiole 2.5-10 cm. Leaf blade oblong-elliptic to obovate , 9-30 × 5-12 cm, leathery, base rounded , margins entire, apex abruptly short-acuminate or apiculate ; surfaces abaxially and adaxially glabrous; basal veins 1(-2) pairs; lateral veins 10 or more, parallel; secondary veins inconspicuous. Syconia paired , sessile, greenish yellow, oblong-ovoid, ca. 2 × ca. 1.5 cm, glabrous; subtending bracts caducous , leaving annual scar , entirely enclosing young syconia, glabrous; ostiole closed by 3 apical bracts, umbonate . [source]

Ficus elastica is commonly cultivated. It has not been collected recently in North America. [source]

Habit: Tree

Flowers: Bloom Period: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December. • Flower Color: inconspicuous, none

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 30-40' tall.

Habitat

Disturbed sites; 0-10 m ; introduced [3].

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Space 9-12" apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 5.1 • Maximum pH: 6.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Light Shade.

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 10a, 10b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

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Unambiguous Synonyms

  1. Macrophthalma elastica (Roxb. Ex Hornem.) Gasp.
  2. Macrophthalma elastica (Roxburgh Ex Hornemann) Gasparrini
  3. Urostigma elasticum (Roxb. Ex Hornem.) Miq.
  4. Urostigma elasticum (Roxburgh Ex Hornemann) Miquel
  5. Visiania elastica (Roxburgh Ex Hornemann) Gasparrini

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Place of publication : Hort. bot. hafn. suppl. 7. 1819

Name verified on 08-Apr-2004 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 08-Apr-2004

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Ficus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 2399 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

F. abelii · F. abscondita · F. abutifolia · F. abutilifolia · F. acamptophylla · F. acanthocarpa · F. acanthophylla · F. acarouaniensis · F. acidula · F. acreana · F. acrocarpa · F. acrorrhyncha · F. aculeata · F. aculeata var. aculeata · F. aculeata var. micracantha · F. acuminata · F. acuminatissima · F. acuta · F. acutifolia · F. acutiloba · F. adamsii · F. adelpha · F. adenosperma · F. adenosperma var. chaetophora · F. adenosperma var. glabra · F. adhaerens · F. adhatodaefolia · F. adhatodifolia · F. adnascens · F. adolfi-friderici · F. adolphi-friderici · F. aechmophylla · F. aegrophylla · F. aequatorialis · F. affinior · F. affinis · F. afganica · F. afganistanica · F. afghanica · F. afghanistanica (Fig Tree) · F. africana · F. afzelii · F. afzelii var. caillei · F. aganophila · F. aggregata · F. aguaraguensis · F. agusanensis · F. ahernii · F. ajajuensis · F. akaie · F. alba · F. albert-smithii (Figueira-Do-Alberto) · F. albescens · F. albidula · F. albinervia · F. albipila · F. albipila var. albipila · F. albomaculata · F. albotomentosa · F. aldabrensis · F. alii · F. alnifolia · F. alongensis · F. alpestris · F. alternans · F. altimeraloo · F. altissima (Gao Shan Rong) · F. altissima 'Aureo Variegata' (Council Tree) · F. alutacea · F. alvareziana · F. amadiensis · F. amara · F. amazonia · F. amazonica (Figueira-Amaznica) · F. amblisyce · F. amblyphylla · F. amboinensis · F. americana (Central American Banyan) · F. americana subsp. greiffiana · F. americana subsp. guianensis · F. ampana · F. ampelas · F. ampelos · F. ampla · F. amplissima · F. amplocarpa · F. ampullacea · F. ampulliformis · F. anacardiifolia · F. anastomosans · F. andamanica · F. andicola · F. androbrota · F. androchaete · F. anggica · F. angladei · F. angolensis · F. anguina · F. angulata · F. angustata

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 24, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Zhengyi Wu, Zhe-Kun Zhou & Michael G. Gilbert "Moraceae". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 21. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Ficus". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. "Ficus elastica". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 7/1/2009