Ficus asperifolia

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Ficus asperifolia
Ficus asperifolia.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Moraceae
Genus: Ficus
Species:
F. asperifolia
Binomial name
Ficus asperifolia
Miq.
Synonyms
List
  • Ficus acutifoliaHutch.
  • Ficus cnestrophyllaWarb.
  • Ficus colpophyllaWarb.
  • Ficus irumuensisDe Wild.
  • Ficus manicariarumStandl.
  • Ficus paludicolaWarb.
  • Ficus pendulaWelw. ex Hiern
  • Ficus scolopophoraWarb.
  • Ficus storthophyllaWarb.
  • Ficus storthophylla var. cuneataDe Wild.
  • Ficus urceolarisWelw. ex Hiern
  • Ficus urceolaris var. bumbanaHiern
  • Ficus warburgiiH.J.P.Winkl.
  • Ficus xiphophoraWarb.

Ficus asperifolia is a species of shrub or small sized gynodioecious fig tree belonging to the family Moraceae. [1] [2] It grows up to 6 m high and often has climbing branches. [3]

Contents

Description

Leaves of the species are elliptical to obovate in shape, up to 20 cm long and 8 cm wide, apex is long and acuminate while base is cuneate to obtusely rounded. [4] Leaves commonly have stipules; petiole is up to 1 cm long and margin tends to be lobed or dentate. [4] Peduncles, 2-15 mm long, the figs are orange to purplish red, up to 2 cm in diameter and globular in shape; figs are sometimes paired or single on leaf axils. [4] [5]

Distribution and habitat

Ficus asperifolia occurs in Senegal westwards to Sudan and Kenya and southwards to Zambia. [1] It is found in savannahs and edges of gallery forests. [5]

Uses

In Cameroon dried fruit of the species are used in traditional medine to treate infertility, [1] extracts of the species are also used to aid the wound healing process.

Related Research Articles

<i>Ficus</i> Genus of flowering plants in the mulberry family Moraceae

Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The common fig (F. carica) is a temperate species native to southwest Asia and the Mediterranean region, which has been widely cultivated from ancient times for its fruit, also referred to as figs. The fruit of most other species are also edible though they are usually of only local economic importance or eaten as bushfood. However, they are extremely important food resources for wildlife. Figs are also of considerable cultural importance throughout the tropics, both as objects of worship and for their many practical uses.

<i>Ficus macrophylla</i> Species of banyan tree

Ficus macrophylla, commonly known as the Moreton Bay fig or Australian banyan, is a large evergreen banyan tree of the Mulberry Family (Moraceae) native to eastern Australia, from the Wide Bay–Burnett region in the north to the Illawarra in New South Wales, as well as Lord Howe Island where the subspecies F. m. columnaris is a banyan form covering 2.5 acres or more of ground. Its common name is derived from Moreton Bay in Queensland, Australia. It is best known for its imposing buttress roots.

<i>Ficus citrifolia</i> Species of fig native to the Americas

Ficus citrifolia, also known as the shortleaf fig, giant bearded fig, Jagüey, wild banyantree and Wimba tree, is a species of banyan native to southern Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America south to Paraguay. It is distinguished from the closely related Florida strangler fig mainly by the finer veining in the leaves.

<i>Ficus thonningii</i> Species of fig

Ficus thonningii is a species of Ficus. It is native to Africa. It is commonly known as Mugumo to the Agikuyu or the Strangler Fig in common English. Recent phylogenetic analysis suggests it may be a species complex.

<i>Ficus aurea</i> Species of strangler fig

Ficus aurea, commonly known as the Florida strangler fig, golden fig, or higuerón, is a tree in the family Moraceae that is native to the U.S. state of Florida, the northern and western Caribbean, southern Mexico and Central America south to Panama. The specific epithet aurea was applied by English botanist Thomas Nuttall who described the species in 1846.

Ficus maxima is a fig tree which is native to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and South America south to Paraguay. Figs belong to the family Moraceae. The specific epithet maxima was coined by Scottish botanist Philip Miller in 1768; Miller's name was applied to this species in the Flora of Jamaica, but it was later determined that Miller's description was actually of the species now known as Ficus aurea. To avoid confusion, Cornelis Berg proposed that the name should be conserved for this species. Berg's proposal was accepted in 2005.

<i>Ficus pleurocarpa</i> Species of epiphyte

Ficus pleurocarpa, commonly known as the banana fig, karpe fig or gabi fig, is a fig that is endemic to the wet tropical rainforests of northeastern Queensland, Australia. It has characteristic ribbed orange and red cylindrical syconia. It begins life as a hemiepiphyte, later becoming a tree up to 25 m (82 ft) tall. F. pleurocarpa is one of the few figs known to be pollinated by more than one species of fig wasp.

<i>Ficus platypoda</i> Species of plant in the family Moraceae

Ficus platypoda, commonly known as the desert fig or rock fig, is a fig that is endemic to central and northern Australia. It is a lithophytic plant that grows on rocky outcrops, reaching 10 m in height.

<i>Ficus obliqua</i> A tree, the small-leaved fig

Ficus obliqua, commonly known as the small-leaved fig, is a tree in the family Moraceae, native to eastern Australia, New Guinea, eastern Indonesia to Sulawesi and islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Previously known for many years as Ficus eugenioides, it is a banyan of the genus Ficus, which contains around 750 species worldwide in warm climates, including the edible fig. Beginning life as a seedling, which grows on other plants (epiphyte) or on rocks (lithophyte), F. obliqua can grow to 60 m (200 ft) high and nearly as wide with a pale grey buttressed trunk, and glossy green leaves.

<i>Ficus sur</i> Species of fig

Ficus sur, with the common names Cape fig and broom cluster fig, is a widespread Afrotropical species of cauliflorous fig.

<i>Ficus ingens</i> Species of fig

Ficus ingens, the red-leaved fig, is a fig species with an extensive range in the subtropical to dry tropical regions of Africa and southern Arabia. Despite its specific name, which means "huge", or "vast", it is usually a shrub or tree of modest proportions. It is a fig of variable habit depending on the local climate and substrate, typically a stunted subshrub on elevated rocky ridges, or potentially a large tree on warmer plains and lowlands. In 1829 the missionary Robert Moffat found a rare giant specimen, into which seventeen thatch huts of a native tribe were placed, so as to be out of reach of lions.

<i>Ficus cyathistipula</i> Tropical African fig tree

''Ficus cyathistipula'', the African fig tree, is a species of fig that is native to the tropical forest regions of Africa. They may be small trees, shrubs or hemi-epiphytic lianas, and are widespread in the moist tropics, where they may be found in Afromontane or rainforest, often overhanging pools. The figs are reddish when ripe, and have thick, spongy walls that enable them to float on water. They are named for their cup-shaped (cyathus-) and persistent stipules (stipula).

Senegalia dudgeonii is a small perennial tree that grows up to 9 meters tall. It belongs to the Fabaceae family and endemic Sudano-Sahelian and Guinea savannah zones of West Africa.

<i>Landolphia heudelotii</i>

Landolphia heudelotii is a climbing shrub or liana that is within the Apocynaceae family, it occurs in the Guinea and Sudan savannahs of West Africa and cultivated for its rubber and edible fruit.

<i>Gardenia erubescens</i>

Gardenia erubescens is a shrub or small tree species with edible fruits that occurs in the Guinea and Sudan savannah vegetation of West and Central Africa. It is within the Rubiaceae family.

<i>Lannea acida</i>

Lannea acida is a shrub or small deciduous tree within the family Anacardiaceae. It is endemic to the Guinea and Sudan savannas of West and Central Africa.

<i>Lannea microcarpa</i> Species of dioecious plant

Lannea microcarpa is a dioecious plant within the Anacardiaceae family. It is also called African grapes and occurs in the Sudan and Guinea savanna of West Africa from Senegal to Cameroon. The plant is used to dye basilan fini, a traditional cloth in a red and brown colour.

<i>Berlinia grandiflora</i> Species of plant

Berlinia grandiflora is a small to medium sized tree found in the West and West Central African region along riparian habitats or gallery forests habitat types.

Ficus mucuso is a medium to large sized tree within the family Moraceae. The range of the species spans Tropical West Africa from Sierral Leone to Uganda, in East Africa.

<i>Ixora brachypoda</i> Species of plant

Ixora brachypoda is a species of shrub or small tree in the family Rubiaceae. It has fragrant flowers and glabrous leaves and stems.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Watcho, Pierre; Meli Watio, Hermine; Wankeu-Nya, Modeste; Ngadjui, Esther; Deeh Defo, Patrick; Nkeng-Efouet, Pepin Alango; Nguelefack, Telesphore Benoit; Kamanyi, Albert (2017). "Androgenic effects of aqueous and methanolic extracts of Ficus asperifolia in male Wistar rats". BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 17 (1): 42. doi: 10.1186/s12906-016-1547-5 . ISSN   1472-6882. PMC   5237287 . PMID   28086774.
  2. Verkerke ,W. ,L987(a). Ovule dimorphism in ficus asperifolia Miquel . Acta Bot.Neer-I . 36: L2L-L24
  3. Beentje, H. J. (1988). "Fig trees (Ficus, Moraceae) of Kenya". Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society and National Museum. 76 (198): 53–76.
  4. 1 2 3 Ndolo Ebika, S. T.; Morgan, D.; Sanz, C.; Harris, D. J. (2018-08-09). "Ficus Species in the Sangha Trinational, Central Africa". Edinburgh Journal of Botany. 75 (3): 377–420. doi:10.1017/S0960428618000173. ISSN   1474-0036.
  5. 1 2 Arbonnier, Michel; Arbonnier, Michel (2004). Trees, shrubs and lianas of West African dry zones. CIRAD. Weikersheim: Margraf Publ. pp. 397–400. ISBN   978-3-8236-1419-7.