Ficus americana

Trees, evergreen, to 12 m. Roots adventitious, aerial. Bark grayish to brown, smooth. Branchlets grayish, smooth. Leaves: stipules 0.7-0.9 cm; petiole 0.2-1 cm. Leaf blade elliptic to obovate, 2-8 × 1-4 cm, base usually acute or cuneate to nearly obtuse, margins entire, apex acute, obtuse, or short-apiculate; surfaces abaxially and adaxially glabrous; basal veins 1(-2) pairs; lateral veins 6-14 pairs, not uniformly spaced. Syconia paired, red, not spotted, globose, 3-7 mm diam., glabrous; peduncles 2-5 mm; subtending bracts 2, basally connate, ovate, 1-1.5 mm; ostiole ca. 1 mm wide, subtended by 3 bracts, bracts ca. 1 mm, not umbonate.

Phenology: Flowering all year.
Habitat: Disturbed thickets
Elevation: 0-10 m

Fla., Mexico, native to West Indies, Central America, South America.

Discussion

The name Ficus perforata Linnaeus (Pl. Surin., 17. 1775) is an illegitimate name, based on the same type collection as F. americana Aublet. Ficus americana is locally escaped from cultivation.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa