Statue of Unity – Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat Rain Forest Ektanagar

Ficus nervosa

Syn. Urostigma nervosum

IUCN Red List Least Concern (LC)

Local name

  • Veined-leaf Fig (English)
  • Eechamaram (Malayalam)
  • Neer-aal (Tamil)

Tree type

Evergreen Deciduous
Family: Moraceae
35m

Indicated uses

Medicinal Edible Ornamental Avenue Other

Flowering & fruiting

Flowering Fruiting

Key characters

Ficus nervosa bark

Bark

Bark is greyish, smooth; blaze cream. Young branchlets are round, hairless or somewhat velvet-hairy, latex white.

Ficus nervosa leaves

Leaves

Leaves are simple, alternate, spiral; stipules up to 1 cm long, ovate-lance-shaped, falling off and leaving annular scar; leaf-stalk 0.8–3 cm long, blade 6–18 × 3–8 cm, narrow elliptic-oblong, lance-shaped or inverted-lance-shaped.

Ficus nervosa flower

Flower

Flowers are minute and enclosed inside the fig (syconium).

Ficus nervosa fruit / seeds

Fruit / Seeds

Figs are borne in leaf-axils and on leafless twigs, paired or solitary, stalked, green (young) to red (mature) pear-shaped, hairless figs.

Ficus nervosa

Did you know?

The specific epithet nervosa is derived from Latin, meaning “veined” or “nervy” that relates to its prominent, highly defined veins (nerves) that bulge drastically on the underside of the leaf blades.

Distribution

World map showing distribution

India to Taiwan and Indo-China