Ficus insipida Willd.
EOL Text
Holotype for Ficus crassiuscula Warb. ex Standl.
Catalog Number: US 472427
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Original publication and alleged type specimen examined
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): H. F. Pittier
Year Collected: 1901
Locality: La Fortuna, Volcan de Irazu, Cartago, Costa Rica, Central America
Elevation (m): 1575 to 1575
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| Rights holder/Author | This image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Unless otherwise noted, this image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws. |
| Source | http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/botany/?irn=2140302 |
Período de frutificação: junho. Coleta de frutos na árvore ou no solo. Produção de mudas: Canteiros. Tempo de germinação: 30 a 60 dias. Exigência em luminosidade: Exigente em luz.
- LORENZI, H. Árvores brasileiras: manual de identificação e cultivo de plantas arbóreas nativas do Brasil. 5 ed. Nova Odessa: Instituto Plantarum, 2008. v. 1.
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| Rights holder/Author | Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas |
| Source | http://flora.ipe.org.br/sp/190/ |
Syntype for Ficus krugiana Warb.
Catalog Number: US 796142
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Original publication and alleged type specimen examined
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): H. F. A. von Eggers
Year Collected: 1889
Locality: St. Vincent, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, West Indies
- Syntype: Warburg, O. 1903. Symb. Antill. 3: 487.
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| Rights holder/Author | This image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Unless otherwise noted, this image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws. |
| Source | http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/botany/?irn=10257985 |
Velocidade de desenvolvimento: Rápida
- LORENZI, H. Árvores brasileiras: manual de identificação e cultivo de plantas arbóreas nativas do Brasil. 5 ed. Nova Odessa: Instituto Plantarum, 2008. v. 1.
- LOBELLO, M. Árvores no Brasil. São Paulo: Prêmio, 1992. v. 2.
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| Rights holder/Author | Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas |
| Source | http://flora.ipe.org.br/sp/190/ |
Syntype for Ficus krugiana Warb. in Urb.
Catalog Number: US 618306
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Original publication and alleged type specimen examined
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): Père Duss
Year Collected: 1893
Locality: Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles, West Indies
Elevation (m): 400 to 900
- Syntype: Warburg, O. 1902. Symb. Antill. 3: 487.
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | This image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Unless otherwise noted, this image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws. |
| Source | http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/botany/?irn=2135572 |
The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.
Ficus insipida is a tropical tree in the fig genus of the family Moraceae. It ranges from Mexico to South America, and is commonly found in cloud forest above 1,550 meters ASL.[2]
Description and ecology[edit]
This is a tree with buttress roots which ranges from 8–40 m (25–130 ft) tall. Although it is a freestanding tree when mature, F. insipida begins its growth as a climbing vine. It clings to a mature tree, eventually strangling it. Its favored hosts are Guarea tuisana and Sapium pachystachys, and it is also frequently found on already-dead trees.[3]
Leaves vary shape from narrow to ellipse-shaped; they range from 5–25 cm (2–10 in) long and from 2–11 cm (0.8–4 in) wide.[4] It flowers February to April and bears warty, yellow-green fruit 4–6 cm in diameter. Though they are edible like most figs, as the scientific name (literally "insipid fig") implies they are of unremarkable taste. Monkeys feed on fruits still on the tree, and fallen fruits are eaten by peccaries.
Two subspecies can be distinguished:
- Ficus insipida ssp. insipida Willd.
- Ficus insipida ssp. scabra C.C.Berg
Use by humans[edit]
The wood is soft, but it is used for construction purposes where durability is not important.
Ficus insipida is used by wajacas (shamans) of the Craós (Krahós, Krahô) tribe in Brazil as a memory enhancer.[5] Its latex is also employed in South American folk medicine as the anthelmintic called ojé, but as it is toxic it must be used with care.[6]
Maya codices (singular codex) are folding books stemming from the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, written in Maya hieroglyphic script on Mesoamerican bark cloth, Amatl, made from the inner bark of certain trees, the main being the wild fig tree or Amate (Ficus glabrata; a synonym of the Ficus insipida).
Footnotes[edit]
References[edit]
- Daniels, James D. (1991): Habitat and Host Preferences of Ficus crassiuscula, A Neotropical Strangling Fig of the Lower-Montane Rain Forest. J. Ecol. 79(1): 129–141.
- DeWolf, Gordon P. Jr. (1960): Ficus (Tourn.) L.. In: Nevling, Lorin I. Jr.: Flora of Panama. Part IV. Fascicle II. Ann. MO Bot. Gard. 47(2): 81–203. First page image
- Haber, William (2000): An Introduction to Cloud Forest Trees. Mountain Gem Publications, Monteverde de Puntarenas, Costa Rica. ISBN 9977-12-418-3
- Hansson, Anders; Zelada, Julio C. & Noriega, Hugo P. (2005): Reevaluation of risks with the use of Ficus insipida latex as a traditional anthelmintic remedy in the Amazon. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 98(3): 251–257. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2004.12.029 (HTML abstract)
- Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG) [2008a]: Flora de Nicaragua – Ficus insipida [in Spanish]. Retrieved 2008-NOV-01.
- Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG) [2008b]: Tropicos.org – Ficus insipida synonyms. Retrieved 2008-JUN-29.
- Rodrigues, Eliana & Carlini, E.A. (2006): Plants with possible psychoactive effects used by the Krahô Indians, Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria 28(4): 277–282. PDF fulltext
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| Rights holder/Author | Wikipedia |
| Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ficus_insipida&oldid=592549373 |
Syntype for Ficus krugiana Warb. in Urb.
Catalog Number: US 849770
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Original publication and alleged type specimen examined
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): Père Duss
Year Collected: 1893
Locality: Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles, West Indies
Elevation (m): 400 to 900
- Syntype: Warburg, O. 1902. Symb. Antill. 3: 487.
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | This image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Unless otherwise noted, this image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws. |
| Source | http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/botany/?irn=2135571 |
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 2
Specimens with Barcodes: 10
Species With Barcodes: 1
Persistência foliar: Semidecídua. Período de floração: junho. Superfície do tronco: Áspera.
- SPINA, A. P.; FERREIRA, W. M.; LEITÃO FILHO, H. F. Floração, frutificação e síndrome de dispersão de uma comunidade de floresta de brejo na região de Campinas (SP). Acta Botanica Brasilica, Feira de Santana, v. 15, n. 3, p. 349-368, 2001.
- LORENZI, H. Árvores brasileiras: manual de identificação e cultivo de plantas arbóreas nativas do Brasil. 5 ed. Nova Odessa: Instituto Plantarum, 2008. v. 1.
| License | |
| Rights holder/Author | Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas |
| Source | http://flora.ipe.org.br/sp/190/ |