Ficus tinctoria subsp. gibbosa

Syn. Ficus gibbosa

IUCN Red List Least Concern (LC)

Local name

Dye Fig (English)
Datir (Marathi)

Tree type

Evergreen Deciduous

Family: Moraceae

25m

Indicated uses

Medicinal Edible Ornamental Avenue Other

Flowering & fruiting

Flowering Fruiting

Key characters

Bark

Greyish to brownish; young branches may be hairy. Aerial roots are commonly produced, particularly in plants growing epiphytically.

Leaves

Alternate, ovate, up to 18 × 9 cm, glossy dark green above, pale green beneath, often asymmetrical, with rounded apex and base and thick petioles up to 1.5 cm.

Flower

Flowers minute and unisexual, enclosed within the fleshy syconium (fig). Male, gall and female flowers develop inside the receptacle.

Fruit / Seeds

Fruit is a fig, appearing in leaf axils, usually paired, round, to 1.5 cm, ripening through orange to red or purple.

Did you know?

The species name tinctoria means “used for dyeing” in Latin, referring to its latex, traditionally used to dye cloth yellow, while its fruits yield red to purple sap.

Distribution

Himalaya to S. China and Lesser Sunda Islands (Bali)