Ficus platyphylla

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Ficus platyphylla
Ficus platyphylla-Jardin botanique Meise (4).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. platyphylla
Binomial name
Ficus platyphylla

Ficus platyphylla is a deciduous tree within the family Moraceae. Common local names include Gamji in Hausa and Gaba or Kobo in Bambara. [1]

Contents

Description

Species grows up to 20 metres (66 ft) tall, the crown is large and spreading while the bark is pale brown with scales and fissures, the species sometimes grows as an epyphyte. [2] Leaves, alternate, petioles and stipules are present; leaflets are ovate to elliptic in outline, up to 25 centimetres (10 in) long and 17 centimetres (7 in) wide. The fruits are globose in shape, reddish and small, usually between 1–1.5 centimetres (0.4–0.6 in) in diameter, they are arranged in clusters of 15 in leaf axils on peduncles that can reach 5 centimetres (2 in) in length. [2]

Distribution and habitat

Commonly found in the savannah regions of West and East Africa, from Senegal eastwards to Somalia. [3]

Uses

The species is used as an antidote to poision in different cultures. [4] In Nigeria, the stem bark extracts of the plant is used in ethnomedicine to treat a variety of ailments including depression, epilepsy and psychosis. [5] It is also used to expel parasitic worms from the body. [3]

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moraceae</span> Family of flowering plants

The Moraceae—often called the mulberry family or fig family—are a family of flowering plants comprising about 38 genera and over 1100 species. Most are widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, less so in temperate climates; however, their distribution is cosmopolitan overall. The only synapomorphy within the Moraceae is presence of laticifers and milky sap in all parenchymatous tissues, but generally useful field characters include two carpels sometimes with one reduced, compound inconspicuous flowers, and compound fruits. The family includes well-known plants such as the fig, banyan, breadfruit, jackfruit, mulberry, and Osage orange. The 'flowers' of Moraceae are often pseudanthia.

<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 microcarpa</i> Species of fig

Ficus microcarpa, also known as Chinese banyan, Malayan banyan, Indian laurel, curtain fig, or gajumaru (ガジュマル), is a tree in the fig family Moraceae. It is native in a range from China through tropical Asia and the Caroline Islands to Australia. It is widely planted as a shade tree and frequently misidentified as the Balete tree: F. retusa or F. nitida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strangler fig</span> Index of plants with the same common name

Strangler fig is the common name for a number of tropical and subtropical plant species in the genus Ficus, including those that are commonly known as banyans.

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

Ficus religiosa or sacred fig is a species of fig native to the Indian subcontinent and Indochina that belongs to Moraceae, the fig or mulberry family. It is also known as the bodhi tree, peepul tree, peepal tree, pipala tree or ashvattha tree. The sacred fig is considered to have a religious significance in four major religions that originated on the Indian subcontinent: Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. Hindu and Jain ascetics consider the species to be sacred and often meditate under it. Gautama Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment under a tree of this species. The sacred fig is the state tree of the Indian states of Odisha, Bihar and Haryana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paper mulberry</span> Species of plant

The paper mulberry is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae. It is native to Asia, where its range includes mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Myanmar, and India. It is widely cultivated elsewhere and it grows as an introduced species in New Zealand, parts of Europe, the United States, and Africa. Other common names include tapa cloth tree.

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

Ficus retusa is a species of evergreen woody plant in the fig genus, native to the Malay Archipelago and Malesia floristic region. The species name has been widely mis-applied to Ficus microcarpa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ficain</span>

Ficain also known as ficin, debricin, or higueroxyl delabarre is a proteolytic enzyme extracted from the latex sap from the stems, leaves, and unripe fruit of the American wild fig tree Ficus insipida.

<i>Antiaris</i> Genus of plants

Antiaris toxicaria is a tree in the mulberry and fig family, Moraceae. It is the only species currently recognized in the genus Antiaris. The genus Antiaris was at one time considered to consist of several species, but is now regarded as just one variable species which can be further divided into five subspecies. One significant difference within the species is that the size of the fruit decreases as one travels from Africa to Polynesia. Antiaris has a remarkably wide distribution in tropical regions, occurring in Australia, tropical Asia, tropical Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines, Tonga, and various other tropical islands. Its seeds are spread by various birds and bats, and it is not clear how many of the populations are essentially invasive. The species is of interest as a source of wood, bark cloth, and pharmacological or toxic substances.

<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.

<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 deltoidea</i> Species of Asian plant known as the mistletoe fig

Ficus deltoidea, commonly known as mistletoe fig is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae, native to Southeast Asia, and widely naturalized in other parts of the world.

<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).

Ficus amplissima, also known as the Indian bat tree, Indian bat fig, Pimpri, Pipri (Piparee), Pipali or Bilibasari mara is a tree species of flowering plants that belongs to Moraceae, the fig or mulberry family. It is native to Central and southern Peninsular India, Sri Lanka and Maldives, having a significant distribution throughout Western Ghats of India. It is most commonly planted to provide shade in coffee plantations due to its dense and wide foliage. The ripened figs attract many birds, especially during the spring.

<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 tremula is an hemi-epiphytic species within the family Moraceae. It is pollinated by the fig wasp, Courtella wardi.

References

  1. "M.M.P.N.D. - Sorting Ficus names". www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
  2. 1 2 Flora of Somalia. 2: Angiospermae (Tiliaceae - Apiaceae) (1. publ ed.). Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens. 1999. p. 102. ISBN   978-1-900347-77-8.
  3. 1 2 Lansky, Ephraim Philip; Paavilainen, Helena Maaria (2011). Figs: the genus Ficus. Traditional herbal medicines for modern times. Boca Raton: CRC press. ISBN   978-1-4200-8966-0.
  4. Shi, Yinxian; Mon, Aye Mya; Fu, Yao; Zhang, Yu; Wang, Chen; Yang, Xuefei; Wang, Yuhua (2018). "The genus Ficus (Moraceae) used in diet: Its plant diversity, distribution, traditional uses and ethnopharmacological importance". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 226: 185–196. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2018.07.027.
  5. Chindo, Ben A.; Anuka, Joseph A.; McNeil, Lilly; Yaro, Abdullahi H.; Adamu, Simon S.; Amos, Samson; Connelly, William K.; Lees, George; Gamaniel, Karniyus S. (2009-03-30). "Anticonvulsant properties of saponins from Ficus platyphylla stem bark". Brain Research Bulletin. 78 (6): 276–282. doi:10.1016/j.brainresbull.2008.12.005. ISSN   0361-9230.