Ficus semicordata Buch. ex J. E. Smith

This species is used as a street or shade tree. Berg (in litt.) believes that some material from Xishuangbanna in S Yunnan might be Ficus koutumensis Corner (Gard. Bull. Singapore 17: 449. 1960), which is most closely related to F. semicordata and F. prostrata. Berg also suggests that this, and the following species, F. prostrata, with their geocarpic figs, might be better placed in F. subgen. Sycomorus.

Stewart (l.c.) has, also, reported this species from C-7 Rawalpindi Mirpur and Jammu and states it to be common East of the Ravi.

The fruits often ripen underground (geocarpic) and are eaten. It serves as fodder and bark yields strong fibre. The root juice is said to be given in bladder diseases.

Trees, 3-10 m tall, d.b.h. 15-25 cm, crown flat, spreading and umbrellalike. Bark gray, smooth. Branchlets white or brown pubescent. Stipules red, lanceolate, 2-3.5 cm, membranous, subglabrous. Leaves distichous; petiole thick, 5-10 mm, densely covered with stiff hairs; leaf blade oblong-lanceolate, strongly asymmetric, 18-28 × 9-11 cm, papery, abaxially densely covered with stiff short hairs and small yellowish brown convex spots, adaxially coarse with stiff hairs on veins, base obliquely cordate on one side and auriculate on other side, margin with small teeth or entire, apex acuminate; basal lateral veins 3 or 4 on auriculate side of leaf blade, and extending into auriculate base, secondary veins 10-14 on each side of midvein. Figs on pendulous, eventually prostrate, leafless branchlets, ± underground at maturity, solitary, reddish purple when mature, globose, 1-1.5 cm in diam., stiffly hairy; peduncle 5-10 mm; involucral bracts pubescent; lateral bracts present. Male flowers: near apical pore; calyx lobes 3, red, oblanceolate, longer than stamens; stamens (1 or)2; filaments short; anthers white. Gall flowers: calyx lobes 4 or 5, linear-lanceolate; style lateral, short. Female flowers: basal bracteole 1; calyx lobes 4 or 5; ovary ovoid-ellipsoid; style lateral, long; stigma cylindric, shallowly 2-lobed. Achenes broadly ovoid, apically slightly concave on one side, with ± small tubercles. Fl. May-Oct.

A small to medium sized, upto 15 m tall, irregularly corwned usually. evergreen tree. Trunk up to 2 m in circumference, without aerial roots. Bark dark-grey, young twigs beset with white or pale-brownish short hairs. Leaves with (6-) 10-15 mm long petiole; lamina variable, mostly elliptic to oblongs lanceolate, 10-30 (-35) cm long, 5-10 cm broad, base highly unequal-sided with a 3.4-nerved rounded large lower lobe overlapping the petiole, margin entire or coarsely serrate. apex acuminate, slightly scabrid on both sides or hairy beneath; midrib often pink below with 9-15 pairs of bulging prominent lateral nerves, intercostals distinct, connecting the lateral nerves; stipules linear-lanceolate 18-26 mm long, brownish-hairy. Hypanthodia on 5-8 mm long peduncles, borne in pairs or clusters on long usually leafless, scaly branches borne from the trunk or main leafless branches, globose or ± pyriform, 10-12 mm in diameter, green subtended by 3, broadly triangular-ovate, brown basal bract, apical orifice closed by 5, pink-brown bracts. Male flowers: sessile, ostiolar; sepsis 3; stamen single with ovate anther. Female flowers: subsessile, dispersed among gall flowers sepals 4, basally united, lobes lanceolate; ovary ovoid, style long, lateral, bifid. Figs globose to pear-shaped, 12-20 mm in diameter, pink or dull reddish brown with white spots, hairy, maturing at ground level.

Himalaya (Nepal, NEFA), India, Burma, S. China, Indo-China, Malaya.

Guangxi, Guizhou, SE Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, C India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim, Thailand, Vietnam].

Distribution: Subhimalayan tracts from Pakistan (Rawalpindi, Kashmir) eastwards to Malaya through India, Bhutan and Burma.

200-1700 m

Fl. & Fr. Per.: March-October.

Forest margins, valleys, along trails; 600-1900(-2800) m.

Covellia cunia (Buchanan-Hamilton ex Roxburgh) Miquel; Ficus cunia Buchanan-Hamilton ex Roxburgh.

Ficus semicordata, commonly known as the drooping fig, is a small to medium-sized fodder tree of genus Ficus. It bears edible fruit. The figs on the lower part of the leafless branches may develop in leaf litter and humus, and be buried in the surface of the soil, where the seeds germinate. Otherwise birds and other animals distribute the seeds.

Ficus semicordata is dioecious, with male and female flowers produced on separate individuals.