Ficus lutea

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Giant-leaved fig
Ficus lutea leaves.jpg
Ficus lutea, vye, Manie van der Schijff BT, a.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. lutea
Binomial name
Ficus lutea
Vahl
Synonyms

F. vogelii, F. quibeba, F. nekbudu

Ficus lutea is a medium to large sized deciduous tree in the family Moraceae. It is commonly known as the giant-leaved fig or Lagos rubbertree. These trees occur from the Eastern Cape of South Africa to Tropical Africa.

Contents

Description

Ficus lutea is a tree that grows up to 25 m (82 ft) in height, its crown is large and spreading, while the bark is brownish to dark grey; when in open areas, the trunk is commonly short with buttressed roots but in forest environments, the trunks tend to be longer. [2] Leaves of Ficus lutea clusters at the end of branches, reaches up to 43 cm (17 in) in length and 20 cm (7.9 in) in width, the outline of leaves are ovate to elliptical with an acuminate apex and the base is cordate or rounded, the surface is glossy . [3] Figs borne in leaf axils or on bare twigs below the leaves, they reach up to 30 mm (1.2 in) in diameter and are densely hairy especially when young. [4]

Distribution and habitat

The species occurs in riparian forests, woodlands and evergreen forests in West, East and Southern Africa. [2]

Chemistry

Chemical compounds isolated from the extracts of the plant include α-Tocopherol, epiafzelechin, phytol, beta-sitosterol, lupeol, b-amyrin, and b-amyrin acetate. [2]

Related Research Articles

<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 rubiginosa</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Moraceaea native to eastern Australia

Ficus rubiginosa, the rusty fig or Port Jackson fig, is a species of flowering plant native to eastern Australia in the genus Ficus. Beginning as a seedling that grows on other plants (hemiepiphyte) or rocks (lithophyte), F. rubiginosa matures into a tree 30 m (100 ft) high and nearly as wide with a yellow-brown buttressed trunk. The leaves are oval and glossy green and measure from 4 to 19.3 cm long and 1.25 to 13.2 cm wide.

<i>Ficus lyrata</i> Species of flowering plant in the fig and mulberry family Moraceae

Ficus lyrata, commonly known as the fiddle-leaf fig, banjo fig, fiddle-leaved fig tree, lyre leaf fig tree, or lyre-leaved fig tree, is a species of plant in the mulberry and fig family Moraceae. It is native to western Africa, but is cultivated around the world as an ornamental plant. It has received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Ficus crassiuscula is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae, native to Central America and north-western parts of South America.

<i>Ficus dammaropsis</i> Species of tropical fig

Ficus dammaropsis, the Highland breadfruit, locally called kapiak in Tok Pisin, is a tropical dioecious evergreen fig tree with huge pleated leaves 60 cm (24 in) across and up to 90 cm (3 ft) in length. on petioles as much as thirteen inches long and 1 in (2.5 cm) thick. These emerge from a stipular sheath up to fourteen inches long, the largest of any dicot. It is native to the highlands and highland fringe of New Guinea. It generally grows at altitudes of between 850 and 2,750 metres. Its fruit, the world's largest figs (syconia), up to six inches in diameter, are edible but rarely eaten except as an emergency food. There are two fruit colour variants in Ficus dammaropsis, red and green, as illustrated by the photos here. They are pollinated by the tiny fig wasp Ceratosolen abnormis. The young leaves are pickled or cooked and eaten as a vegetable with pig meat by highlanders.

<i>Ficus insipida</i> Species of fig tree from the Neotropics

Ficus insipida is a common tropical tree in the fig genus of the family Moraceae growing in forest habitats along rivers. It ranges from Mexico to northern South America.

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

Ficus coronata, commonly known as the sandpaper fig or creek sandpaper fig, is a cauliflorous species of fig tree, native to Australia. It is found along the east coast from Mackay in Central Queensland, through New South Wales and just into Victoria near Mallacoota. It grows along river banks and gullies in rainforest and open forest. Its common name is derived from its rough sandpapery leaves, which it shares with the other sandpaper figs.

<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 sansibarica</i> Species of tree

The Ficus sansibarica, known as knobbly fig, is an African species of cauliflorous fig. It is named after Zanzibar, where Franz Stuhlmann discovered it in 1889. They often begin life as epiphytes, which assume a strangling habit as they develop. They regularly reach 10 m, but may grow up to 40 m tall as forest stranglers.

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

Ficus subpisocarpa is a species of small deciduous tree native to Japan, China, Taiwan and southeast Asia to the Moluccas (Ceram). Two subspecies are recognised. Terrestrial or hemiepiphytic, it reaches a height of 7 m (23 ft). Ants predominantly of the genus Crematogaster have been recorded living in stem cavities. Ficus subpisocarpa is pollinated by Platyscapa ishiiana (Agaonidae).

<i>Ficus vasta</i> Species of flowering plant

Ficus vasta, is a fig plant found in Ethiopia and Yemen. The tree is a species of sycamore-fig.

<i>Ficus grossularioides</i> Species of plant

Ficus grossularioides, the white-leaved fig, is a species of flowering plant that belongs to Moraceae, the fig or mulberry family, it is native to Southeast Asia.

<i>Ficus asperifolia</i> Species of plant

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

Ficus vogeliana is a species within the family Moraceae which bears flagellifom infructescences. Its outer bark tends to be greyish in color while the slash is reddish.

<i>Ficus vallis-choudae</i> Species of flowering plant

Ficus vallis-choudae is a shrub or small to medium sized tree within the family Moraceae, in the genus Ficus and sub-genus, Sycomorus.

<i>Ficus laurifolia</i> Species of flowering plants

Ficus laurifolia is an hemi-epiphytic species that sometimes grows as a shrub or liana or as a tree, the species is within the family Moraceae.

Ficus dicranostyla is a shrub or tree species within the family Moraceae. It occurs in Tropical Africa and it is one of the two species of Ficus within the section Oreosycea of Ficus subgenus Pharmacosycea.

Ficus recurvata is an hemi-epiphyte species within the family Moraceae.

References

  1. Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI).; IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group. (2020). "Ficus lutea". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2020: e.T146435575A146445616. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T146435575A146445616.en . Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Blom van Staden, Analike; Lall, Namrita (2020-01-01), Lall, Namrita (ed.), "Chapter 20 - Ficus lutea", Underexplored Medicinal Plants from Sub-Saharan Africa, Academic Press, pp. 133–138, ISBN   978-0-12-816814-1 , retrieved 2024-01-11
  3. Olaokun, Oyinlola Oluwunmi (2012). The value of extracts of Ficus lutea (Moraceae) in the management of Type II diabetes in a mouse obesity model (PhD thesis). University of Pretoria.
  4. Schmidt, Ernst; Lotter, Mervyn; McCleland, Warren; Burrows, John; Burrows, Sandie (2002). Trees and shrubs of Mpumalanga and Kruger National Park. Johannesburg: Jacana. p. 78. ISBN   978-1-919777-30-6.