Chinese fig
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Chinese fig ( Ficus microcarpa ) |
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The Chinese fig ( Ficus microcarpa ), also called laurel fig or Indian laurel , is a species of the mulberry family (Moraceae). This species is native to Nepal , northern India , Bangladesh , Burma , southern China , Malaysia to the Solomon Islands, and northern tropical Australia . The varieties of this species are planted in the entire tropical belt as an ornamental plant and shade provider on streets, in parks and gardens.
The plant is usually found in stores as bonsai under the name Ficus "Ginseng" (because the shape of the stump is supposed to be reminiscent of a ginseng root).
description
Vegetative characteristics
Ficus microcarpa grows as an evergreen tree and usually reaches heights of 15 to 25 meters with trunk diameters of up to 50 cm. The treetop is expansively wide. The bark is dark gray. The bark of the twigs is initially hairy, later smooth and medium to dark brown. Older branches often form rust-colored aerial roots . The vegetation cone is blunt. There is white milky sap in the plants . The Chinese fig can be propagated by cuttings.
The alternate arranged leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The smooth petiole is 5 to 10 mm long. The more or less leathery, simple leaf blade is narrowly elliptical and has a length of 4 to 8 cm and a width of 3 to 4 cm. The top of the leaf is glossy dark green, but turns dark brown when dry. The main nerve runs through almost the entire leaf, with three to ten lateral arteries each branching off from the main nerve. The leaf margin is smooth. The lanceolate stipules are about 0.8 cm long.
Generative traits and ecology
Ficus microcarpa is single sexed ( monoecious ). The figs are axillary and arranged in pairs on leafy twigs or non-leafy branches. The figs, which are yellow to slightly reddish when ripe, are spherical-egg-shaped and reach a diameter of 6 to 8 mm. The bracts are broadly ovate. In each fig (it is the inflorescence ) there are fertile male, female and sterile flowers (the sterile hot gall flowers) surrounded by a few short bristles. The male flowers can have a short stalk; they have three spatula to egg-shaped sepals and only one stamen, the stamen is longer than the anthers. The female flowers are sessile (so sessile) and have three broadly ovate sepals and a more or less lateral style that ends in a short, club-shaped stigma. The gall-flowers are petiolate. The flowering period is usually between May and June.
In order to get ripe seeds the flowers have to be pollinated by the fig wasp (Agaonidae) Parapristina verticillata . This fig wasp can only lay its eggs in the fruits of the Chinese fig, and the plant cannot reproduce generatively without the presence of this insect. Fruits for the wasp to lay their eggs in are available all year round.
The closing fruit is egg-shaped and ripens between August and December. The seeds are smaller than 1 mm. They have the ability to germinate almost anywhere, including on other trees, on house roofs or in concrete crevices. They spread when the fruit is eaten by birds, rodents or bats and excreted elsewhere.
Dissemination and use
The natural habitat of the Chinese fig 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 colonizes humid regions from the plains to the mountains up to altitudes of 1900 meters.
The Chinese fig has been spread by humans in all tropical regions of the world since the beginning of the 20th century. Today it is the most common street and park tree in the warm, humid regions of North, Central and South America. As long as the wasp Parapristina verticillata was not present in these regions, it could practically only be reproduced by humans. The wasp was subsequently introduced intentionally by humans (around 1921 in Hawaii ) or unintentionally with fruit on ships. Wherever plants and wasps can be found, the Chinese fig is considered an 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 who wreaks visible feeding damage to the leaves, or the wasp Josephiella .
Systematics
The species name Ficus microcarpa was first published in 1782 by Carl von Linné the Younger in Supplementum Plantarum , p. 442.
There are a variety of synonyms for Ficus microcarpa L. f. : Ficus amblyphylla (Miquel) Miquel , Ficus cairnsii Warburg , Ficus condaravia Buchanan-Hamilton , Ficus littoralis flower , Ficus microcarpa var. Crassifolia (WCShieh) Liao , Ficus microcarpa var. Fuyuensis J.C.Liao , Ficus microcarpa var. Oluangpiensis J.C.Liao , Ficus microcarpa var. pusillifolia J.C. Liao , Ficus retusa var. crassifolia W.C. Shieh , Ficus retusiformis H.Léveillé , Ficus rubra Roth , Ficus nitida auct. non flower , Urostigma amblyphyllum Miquel , Urostigma microcarpa (L. f.) Miquel .
Ficus microcarpa belongs to the subgenus Urostigma in the genus Ficus .
swell
- Zhengyi Wu, Zhe-Kun Zhou & Michael G. Gilbert: Moraceae in der 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)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ficus 'Ginseng': Exotic miniature tree for the house. Retrieved October 13, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c Abdul Ghafoor: Moraceae in the Flora of Pakistan : Ficus microcarpa - Online.
- ↑ a b c d e Forest Starr, Kim Starr and Lloyd Loope: Ficus microcarpa at United States Geological Survey - Biological Resources Division, Haleakala Field Station, Maui, Hawai'i, January 2003 (PDF; 25 kB) visited on 11. June 2010.
- ↑ a b c Zhengyi Wu, Zhe-Kun Zhou & Michael G. Gilbert: Moraceae in der Flora of China , Volume 5, 2003, p. 44: Ficus microcarpa - Online.
- ↑ Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council: Ficus microcarpa Lf (PDF; 77 kB) , visited on June 11, 2010.
- ^ Supplementum Plantarum , scanned at botanicus.org in 1782 .
