Ficus elastica
Suppl. Hort. Bot. Hafn., 7. 1819.
Trees, evergreen, to 12 m, epiphytic when young. Roots aerial, abundant. Bark gray, smooth or slightly roughened. Branchlets greenish brown, glabrous. Leaves: stipules 3-10 cm; petiole 2.5-10 cm. Leaf-blade oblongelliptic to obovate, 9-30 × 5-12 cm, leathery, base rounded, margins entire, apex abruptly short-acuminate or apiculate; surfaces abaxially and adaxially glabrous; basal veins 1 (-2) pairs; lateral-veins 10 or more, parallel; secondary-veins inconspicuous. Syconia paired, sessile, greenish yellow, oblong-ovoid, ca. 2 × ca. 1.5 cm, glabrous; subtending bracts caducous, leaving annual scar, entirely enclosing young syconia, glabrous; ostiole closed by 3 apical bracts, umbonate.
Phenology: Flowering all year.
Habitat: Disturbed sites
Elevation: 0-10 m
Distribution
Fla., West Indies (Lesser Antilles), Asia (native to India)
Discussion
Ficus elastica is commonly cultivated. It has not been collected recently in the area of the flora.
Selected References
None.