Ficus arnottiana (Miq.) Miq. (MORACEAE)
Common names
Kannada: Bettadarali, Kallu ashwatha.
Malayalam: Ama kanniyan.
Tamil: Kal arasu.
Telugu: Kondaravi.
Description: Small deciduous trees with milky juice and without aerial roots. Leaves alternate, broadly ovate, 7-20 x 5-15 cm, cordate at base, finely caudate at apex, glabrous, chartaceous; margins subundulate; basal nerves 5-7, lateral nerves 8-10 pairs; reticulation fine; petioles 5-15 cm long; stipules ovate-lanceolate, 1.5 – 2.5 cm long, caducous, reddish-brown when dried. Receptacles mostly from the axils of fallen leaves, in pairs or clusters from tubercles, sessile or very shortly pedunculate, depressed globose; bracts 3. Perianth lobes 3, loose, inflated. Male flowers: few, near the mouth of the receptacles, sessile. Stamen 1. Gall and Fertile flowers: undistinguishable except by the contents of the ovary, sessile or pedicellate, the perianth gamophyllous, lax, completely investing the ovary. Ovary 1-locular; style elongate; stigma flat. When mature, the figs are roughly 1.5 cm in diameter, exhibit a depressed shape, and display a purple hue adorned with greenish dots. Numerous tiny seeds are present.
Flowering : December – February.
Fruiting : February – April.
Distribution: India: South India – Common in moist deciduous forests, open grassy slopes and in rock crevices of Western Ghats. Sri Lanka.
Uses: Leaves and twigs are lopped for fodder. Leaves and bark used in cutaneous affections.