Ficus auriculata

{{Speciesbox

|name = Roxburgh fig

|image = Ficus auriculata.jpg

|image_caption =

|status = LC

|status_system = IUCN3.1

|status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=Shao, Q. |author2=Zhao, L. |author3=Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). |author4=IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group |date=2019 |title=Ficus auriculata |volume=2019 |page=e.T147637124A147637126 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T147637124A147637126.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}

|parent = Ficus subg. Sycomorus

|taxon = Ficus auriculata

|authority = Lour.

|synonyms_ref = {{cite web |title=Ficus auriculata Lour. {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:852452-1 |website=Plants of the World Online |access-date=25 October 2023 |language=en}}

|synonyms = {{collapsible list|

Covellia macrophylla (Roxb. ex Sm.) Miq.
Ficus beipeiensis S.S.Chang
Ficus hainanensis Merr. & Chun
Ficus hamiltoniana {{au|Wall.}}
Ficus imperialis G.W.Johnson & R.Hogg
Ficus macrocarpa {{au|H.Lév. & Vaniot}}
Ficus oligodon Miq.
Ficus pomifera Wall. ex King
Ficus regia Miq.
Ficus rotundifolia Roxb.
Ficus roxburghii Wall. ex Steud.
Ficus sclerocarpa Griff.
Tremotis cordata {{au|Raf.}}

}}

Ficus auriculata (the Roxburgh fig, Elephant ear tree) is a type of fig tree, native to subtropical and tropical mainland Asia. It is noted for its big and round leaves and edible fruit.

Description

This plant is a small tree of {{cvt|5|–|10|m|ft}} high with numerous bristle-covered branches. The leaves are big and round, and are up to {{cvt|44|cm|in}} long and {{cvt|45|cm|in}} wide, with cordate or rounded base, acute apex, and 5–7 main veins from the leaf base. Its petioles are up to {{cvt|15|cm|in|0}} long, and it has stipules of about {{cvt|2.5|cm|in|0}} long. The plant has oblate syconium that are up to {{cvt|4|cm|in}} wide, covered with yellow pubescence, and emerge from the trunk or old branches of the tree.{{cite web |title=29. Ficus auriculata |website=Flora of China |url=http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200006348}}{{cite book |first1=Yoshitaka |last1=Tanaka |first2=Nguyen |last2=Van Ke |date=2007 |title=Edible Wild Plants of Vietnam: The Bountiful Garden |location=Thailand |publisher=Orchid Press |isbn=978-9745240896 |page=96}} Ficus auriculata is dioecious, with male and female flowers produced on separate individuals.{{cite journal| doi=10.1016/j.foreco.2011.10.022 | title=The phenology of dioecious Ficus spp. Tree species and its importance for forest restoration projects | year=2012 | last1=Kuaraksa | first1=Cherdsak | last2=Elliott | first2=Stephen | last3=Hossaert-Mckey | first3=Martine | journal=Forest Ecology and Management | volume=265 | pages=82–93 }} On ripening, the fruits turn from light yellow to purple. The fruit is a fleshy receptacle. The fruits form as large clusters on the trunk, on branches and also on the roots.

Fruit extracts contain many phenolic compounds (Gaire et al. 2011).{{cite journal |last1=Gaire |first1=B.P. |last2=Lamichhane |first2=R. |last3=Sunar |first3=C.B. |last4=Shilpakar |first4=A. |last5=Neupane |first5=S. |last6=Panta |first6=S. |title=Phytochemical screening and analysis of antibacterial and antioxidant activity of Ficus auriculata (Lour.) stem bark. |journal=Pharmacognosy Journal |date=2011 |volume=3 |issue=21 |pages=49–55.}}

Taxonomy

It was first published by Portuguese Botanist João de Loureiro (1717–1791), in Fl. Cochinch. on page 666 in 1790.

It is commonly known as the Roxburgh fig,{{PLANTS |symbol=FIAU3 |taxon=Ficus auriculata |access-date=9 October 2022}} which is named after botanist William Roxburgh, who was appointed Superintendent of the Calcutta Botanical Gardens by the East India Company in 1793. Experiments carried out on fruiting Ficus auriculata trees at the Calcutta Botanic Gardens by the then Superintendent George King and his Botanic Garden colleagues described in King in 1897 which was the first detailed explanation of how the dioecious figs were pollinated by fig wasps which bred in the figs of male trees and then flew to female fig trees to pollinate the female figs.{{cite book |last1=King |first1=George |title=The species of Ficus of the Indo-Malayan and Chinese countries |date=1888 |publisher=Bengal secretariat press |location=Calcutta |pages=67–185}}

It is also known as Elephant Ear Fig Tree, Elephant Ear Tree and Giant Indian Fig, due to the leaves, as auricle is the Latin word for ear, referring to the two 'ears' at the base of heart shaped leaf.{{cite web |title=Ficus auriculata (Elephant Ear Fig Tree, Elephant Ear Tree, Giant Indian Fig, Roxburgh fig) {{!}} North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox |url=https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/ficus-auriculata/ |website=plants.ces.ncsu.edu |publisher=North Carolina State University |access-date=25 October 2023}}

Distribution

The native range of this species stretches from north-eastern Pakistan to southern China and the Malaysian peninsula. It is found in the countries (and regions) of Assam, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Bangladesh, Cambodia, southern China, Bhutan, Sikkim, Hainan, Laos, Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Habitat

It grows in forests in moist valleys, growing along stream banks.

Ecology

Ceratosolen emarginatus is an insect that helps to pollinate this plant.{{cite journal |url=http://www.insect.org.cn/EN/Y2012/V55/I11/1272 |author1=LI Zong-Bo |author2=YANG Pei |author3=PENG Yan-Qiong |author4=YANG Da-Rong |title=Distribution and ultramorphology of antennal sensilla in female Ceratosolen emarginatus Mayr (Hymenoptera: Agaonidae), a specific pollinator of Ficus auriculata |journal=Acta Entomologica Sinica |year=2012 |volume=55 |issue=11 |pages=1272–1281}}{{cite web |url=http://www.figweb.org/Ficus/Subgenus_Sycomorus/Section_Sycomorus/Subsection_Neomorphe/Ficus_auriculata.htm |title=Ficus auriculata Loureiro, 1790 |author1=van Noort, S. |author2=Rasplus, J.-Y. |year=2018 |website=Figweb |publisher=Iziko Museums of South Africa}}

Uses

The fresh fruit of this plant is consumed as food, and has diuretic, laxative and digestive regulating properties. Ficus auriculata is used as fodder in Nepal. It is least resistant to fire, but likes good sunlight.{{cite web |title=Ficus auriculata |website=ForestryNepal |url=http://www.forestrynepal.org/resources/trees/ficus-auriculata |access-date=2014-02-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222053848/http://www.forestrynepal.org/resources/trees/ficus-auriculata |archive-date=2014-02-22}}

The large leaves, often up to {{cvt|21|in|1}} long and {{cvt|12|in|1}} wide are used as plates.

==Plant problems==

The tree is susceptible to scale. It also has minor issues with gall, mealy bugs, thrips, whitefly, and spider mite.