Ficus microcarpa

Ficus microcarpa, also known as Chinese banyan, Hill's weeping fig, small-fruited fig, Malayan banyan, Indian laurel, or curtain fig, is a species of banyan tree in the family Moraceae. Its native range is from India to China and Japan, through Southeast Asia and the western Pacific to the state of Queensland in Australia, and it has been introduced to parts of the Americas and the Mediterranean. It was first described in 1782, and is a culturally significant plant in a number of Asian countries.

Description

Ficus microcarpa is a large tropical tree that grows to 25 m (82 ft) tall, occasionally to 35 m (115 ft), with innumerable aerial roots descending from the branches that have the capacity to develop into accessory trunks or "prop roots". It may initially be epiphytic, lithophytic or terrestrial. The leaves are narrowly to broadly elliptic, measuring up to 12 cm (4.7 in) long by 9 cm (3.5 in) wide. They are glabrous (without hairs) and have 5–9 pairs of main lateral veins either side of the midrib, which form distinct loops within the leaf margin.

Taxonomy

Ficus microcarpa was described in 1782 by Carl Linnaeus the Younger. The species has a considerable number of synonyms. In 1965, E. J. H. Corner described seven varieties (and two forms of Ficus microcarpa var. microcarpa) which were regarded as synonyms under the name of Ficus microcarpa in the latest Flora Malesiana volume.