Ficus racemosa
Ficus racemosa | |
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Species: | F. racemosa
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Ficus racemosa | |
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Ficus glomerata Roxb. |
Ficus racemosa (syn. ) is a species of plant in the Moraceae family. Popularly known as the Cluster Fig Tree or Goolar Fig, this is native to Australasia, South-East Asia and the Indian Subcontinent.
In Buddhism
Both the tree and the flower are referred to as the udumbara (Sanskrit: उडुम्बर), Umbar (Marathi: उम्बर), (Telugu:మేడిపండు) in Buddhism.[1]
The flower is enclosed within a fig-like fruit structure. Because the flower was difficult to see, a legend developed to explain the absence of the visual flower: In Buddhist mythology, the flower was said to bloom only once every 3,000 years. The symbolic nature of the udumbara is used in the 3rd century Lotus Sutra to compare the unique occurrence of its bloom with the uncommon appearance of the Buddha and its doctrine:[1]