Ficus virens

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Ficus virens
Curtain Fig.jpg
Curtain Fig Tree, Atherton Tableland
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. virens
Binomial name
Ficus virens
Aiton
Synonyms

Ficus infectoria(Miq.) Miq., Ficus cunninghamii

Ficus virens is a plant of the genus Ficus found in Pakistan, India, southeast Asia, through Malaysia and into Northern Australia. Its common name is white fig; it is locally known as pilkhan and in the Kunwinjku language it is called manbornde. [2] Like many figs, its fruits are edible. One of the most famous specimens of this tree is the Curtain Fig Tree of the Atherton Tableland, near Cairns, a popular tourist attraction. [3] Another famous example is the Tree of Knowledge in Darwin.

Contents

Ficus virens var. sublanceolata occurs the subtropical rainforest of northeastern New South Wales, and south eastern Queensland in Australia.

Description

Ficus Virens.jpg

It is a medium-sized tree which grows to a height of 24–27 metres (79–89 ft) In dry areas and up to 32 metres (105 ft) tall in wetter areas. It is a fig tree belonging to the group of trees known as strangler figs, which is because its seeds can germinate on other trees and grow to strangle and eventually kill the host tree.

It has two marked growth periods in its Indian environment: in spring (February to early May), and in the time of the monsoon rains (i.e. June to early September). The new leaves are a beautiful shade of reddish pink and very pleasing to the eye.

This is a very massive tree in which the size of the crown can sometimes exceed the height of the tree.

Use as food

The leaves are known in Thai cuisine as phak lueat (Thai : ผักเลือด). They are eaten boiled as a vegetable in Northern Thai curries, referred to in the Northern dialect as phak hueat (ผักเฮือด).

Related Research Articles

The Curtain Fig National Park is a national park on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland, Australia. The National Park is located near Yungaburra. Its most valued features are its once regionally common, now endangered Mabi forests including a huge strangler fig which attracts up to 100 000 visitors per year, locally known as the Curtain Fig Tree, plus a near threatened, locally endemic tree-kangaroo species i.e. the Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo which finds refuge inside this protected area

<i>Ficus benghalensis</i> Species of fig tree

Ficus benghalensis, or Ficus indica commonly known as the banyan, banyan fig and Indian banyan, is a tree native to the Indian Subcontinent. Specimens in India are among the largest trees in the world by canopy coverage. It is also known as a "strangler fig" because like many other trees in the genus Ficus it starts out as epiphyte, that is, leaning on another tree that it ends up suffocating.

<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.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wandering whistling duck</span> Species of bird

The wandering whistling duck is a species of whistling duck. They inhabit tropical and subtropical Australia, the Philippines, Borneo, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Pacific Islands.

<i>Terminalia ferdinandiana</i> Species of tree

Terminalia ferdinandiana, most commonly known as the Kakadu plum and also called the gubinge, billygoat plum, green plum, salty plum, murunga, mador and other names, is a flowering plant in the family Combretaceae, native to Australia, widespread throughout the tropical woodlands from north-western Australia to eastern Arnhem Land. Used as a traditional bush food and bush medicine for centuries, the fruit has especially high levels of vitamin C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curtain Fig Tree</span> Historic site in Queensland, Australia

Curtain Fig Tree is a heritage-listed tree at Curtain Fig Tree Road, East Barron near Yungaburra, Tablelands Region, Queensland, Australia. It is one of the largest trees in Tropical North Queensland, Australia, and one of the best known attractions on the Atherton Tableland. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 3 December 2009.

Allosyncarpia ternata, commonly known as an-binik, is a species of rainforest trees constituting part of the botanical family Myrtaceae and included in the eucalypts group. The only species in its genus, it was described in 1981 by Stanley Blake of the Queensland Herbarium. They grow naturally into large, spreading, shady trees, and are endemic to the Northern Territory of Australia. They grow in sandstone gorges along creeks emerging from the Arnhem Land plateau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rock-haunting ringtail possum</span> Species of marsupial

The rock-haunting ringtail possum, also known as the rock ringtail possum, is a species of Australian possum. It is found in rocky escarpments in the Kimberley, Arnhem Land and Gulf of Carpentaria across Western Australia and Northern Territory and just passing the Queensland border. It is also found on Groote Eylandt. It is the only species in the genus Petropseudes, but is part of the group including the common ringtail possum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flora of Kakadu National Park</span>

This is a list of plants commonly found in Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory of Australia. Where known, common names are given in English and in Gun-djeihmi, a commonly spoken indigenous language in the area, are given in parentheses.

A fig tree is any of about 850 species of woody trees in the genus Ficus.

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

Ficus watkinsiana, commonly known as strangler fig, Watkins' fig, nipple fig or the green-leaved Moreton Bay fig is a hemiepiphytic fig that is endemic to Australia. The species exists in three populations—one in northeast Queensland and the others in southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales. It also has been introduced to Kauai island (Hawaiʻi).

<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 henneana</i> Species of fig

Ficus henneana is a strangler fig only occurring in Australia. Previously considered a variety of Ficus superba which occurs in China, Japan and parts of South East Asia. The cedar fig or deciduous fig grows in Australia from Milton, New South Wales to northern Queensland and the Northern Territory. The habitat is riverine, littoral or the drier forms of rainforest. The fruit is considered edible for humans, but it is not particularly palatable.

<i>Ficus virens <span style="font-style:normal;">var.</span> sublanceolata</i> Species of fig

Ficus virens var. sublanceolata is a banyan or strangler fig. It grows alongside the related white fig in the northern part of its range. They differ with narrower leaves, almost lanceolate in shape. Common names in Australia include white fig, sour fig, deciduous fig and banyan. A large example can be seen north of Murwillumbah beside the old Pacific Highway, not far from the state border with Queensland.

<i>Persoonia falcata</i> Species of shrub

Persoonia falcata, commonly known as the wild pear, is a shrub native to northern Australia.

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

Ficus superba, also known as sea fig or deciduous fig, is a hemiepiphytic tree of genus Ficus. It is one of the species known as banyans or "strangler figs" because of its potential to grow as a hemi-epiphyte and eventually progress to the strangling habit of species in this subgenus. It is, however, not an obligate hemi-epiphyte and can be found growing as single stemmed trees in forests. It is found in Japan, Taiwan, Australia, and China, as well as various parts of Southeast Asia, such as Thailand, Vietnam, Java, Kalimantan, the Lesser Sunda Islands, Moluccas, Seram Island, and Peninsular Malaysia.

<i>Melaleuca argentea</i> Species of plant

Melaleuca argentea, commonly known as the silver cadjeput, silver-leaved paperbark, silver cajuput, or mardderr in the Kunwinjku language, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to northern Australia. It is a common tree along river banks or around swamps in the tropics. It has papery bark and weeping foliage and has been the subject of important scientific research.

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

Ficus coronulata, commonly known as the peach-leaf fig, and in the Northern Territory as river fig and crown fig, is one of several fig species commonly known as sandpaper figs. It is native to Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

References

  1. "Ficus virens". IUCN Red List . 12 June 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  2. Garde, Murray. "manbornde". Bininj Kunwok Online Dictionary. Bininj Kunwok Regional Language Centre. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  3. "The Curtain Fig Tree (entry 602734)". Queensland Heritage Register . Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 1 August 2014.