Ficus racemosa L. (MORACEAE)
Common names
Kannada: Athimara.
Tulu: Arthimara.
Malayalam: Atthi, Atthi-al.
Sanskrit: Udumbara.
Tamil: Vellai athi.
Telugu: Atti.
English: Cluster fig.
Description: Evergreen trees, 15-20 m tall without aerial roots; young shoots glabrous; pubescent or scaberulous. Leaves ovate-oblong or elliptic-lanceolate, 7-15 x 3-6.5 cm, acute or rounded at base, acute or shortly acuminate at apex, glabrous on both surfaces when mature; basal nerves 3; lateral nerves 4-6 pairs; petioles 1.5 – 3.0 cm long; stipules ovate-lanceolate, ca 2 cm long, pubescent. Receptacles shortly pedunculate, on short leafless warted branches, obovoid, tomentose when young; basal bracts 3. Perianth lobes 3-4, gamophyllous. Male flowers: sessile, forming a zone near the mouth of receptacle. Stamens 2; filaments connate. Gall flowers: pedicellate, ovary enclosed by the perianth; style laterally elongate; stigma clavate. Fertile flowers: subsessile, ovary 1-locular; style subterminal; stigma clavate. Clusters of figs, varying in shape from subglobose to pyriform or subturbinate, measure 1-3 cm in diameter and turn red when ripe. Numerous small seeds are present.
Flowering & Fruiting : Throughout the year.
Distribution: India: Throughout: Common in deciduous to semi-evergreen forests and along roadsides. Pakistan, Malesia to Australia.
Uses:
- Figs edible. They may be dehydrated, ground into flour and taken with milk and sugar or used for preparing cold jelly. The powder from roasted fig form a valuable breakfast food. The wood grey or greyish white, soft, not durable, used for well-curbs, outhouse doors, cross pieces for carts, rice mortars, planks and shutters and for making toys and effigies, cheap furniture, sides of carts, frames, ploughs, oars, yokes, bellows and fuse box fittings. It may be used also in cheap turnery work, e.g. bed legs, lacquer ware and cotton reels, and as light packing case wood. It is reported to be suitable for match-boxes. Leaves are used as fodder for cattle and elephants. A good shade tree for coffee.
- Often cultivated around village for its edible figs. The coagulum of the latex may be used in the manufacture of ground sheets and water-proof bonded paper. It may be added to the extent of 10% to Hevea rubber or latex as a plasticizer. Bird-lime is prepared from the juice of the stem. It is one of the recorded hosts of the Indian lac insect. Root used in diarrhoea and diabetes; bark tonic; latex used in diarrhoea and piles; leaf used in bilious affections; fig stomachic, carminative, used in haemoptysis; bark and fig astringent and used in menorrhagia. The bark is administered in cases of rinderpest diseases in cattle. Additionally, the bark, fig, and latex are employed for treating conditions such as edema, wounds, diarrhea, dysentery, uterine bleeding, leucorrhoea, and polyuria.