Ficus mollis
Vahl
Moraceae
Ficus asinina Buch.-Ham.
Ficus tomentosa Roxb. ex Willd.
Common Name:
Tree growing in native habitat in southern India
Photograph by: J.M.Garg
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Tree growing in native habitat in southern India
Photograph by: J.M.Garg
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Plants are often found growing on old walls
Photograph by: J.M.Garg
GNU Free Documentation License
Fruits and leaves
Photograph by: Forestowlet
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
Looking into the canopy of a tree in Bangalore
Photograph by: Forestowlet
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
Fruits and leaves
Photograph by: J.M.Garg
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
General Information
Ficus mollis is a tree growing up to 12 metres tall in one report[
372- Title
- Flowers of India
- Publication
-
- Author
-
- Website
- http://www.flowersofindia.net/
- Publisher
-
- Year
- 0
- ISBN
-
- Description
- A wed site of native Indian plants, plus cultivated and naturalized species. It has good quality photos and terse details on more than 3,000 species and cultivars.
], but more than 20 metres tall according to another[
146- Title
- A Manual of Indian Timbers.
- Publication
-
- Author
- Gamble. J. S.
- Publisher
- Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh
- Year
- 1972
- ISBN
- -
- Description
- First written in the 19th century, but still a classic, giving a lot of information on the uses and habitats of Indian trees. Not for the casual reader.
]. It is often found growing as an epiphyte, or on old walls, but produces few aerial roots[
146- Title
- A Manual of Indian Timbers.
- Publication
-
- Author
- Gamble. J. S.
- Publisher
- Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh
- Year
- 1972
- ISBN
- -
- Description
- First written in the 19th century, but still a classic, giving a lot of information on the uses and habitats of Indian trees. Not for the casual reader.
].
The tree is harvested from the wild for local medicinal use.
Known Hazards
None known
Botanical References
Range
E. Asia - southern India, Sri Lanka.
Habitat
Forests in drier regions[
146- Title
- A Manual of Indian Timbers.
- Publication
-
- Author
- Gamble. J. S.
- Publisher
- Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh
- Year
- 1972
- ISBN
- -
- Description
- First written in the 19th century, but still a classic, giving a lot of information on the uses and habitats of Indian trees. Not for the casual reader.
]. Often found growig on old walls[
146- Title
- A Manual of Indian Timbers.
- Publication
-
- Author
- Gamble. J. S.
- Publisher
- Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh
- Year
- 1972
- ISBN
- -
- Description
- First written in the 19th century, but still a classic, giving a lot of information on the uses and habitats of Indian trees. Not for the casual reader.
].
Properties
| Medicinal Rating |  |
| Habit | Tree |
| Height | 12.00 m |
| Pollinators | Wasps |
| Cultivation Status | Wild |
Cultivation Details
Fig trees have a unique form of fertilization, each species relying on a single, highly specialized species of wasp that is itself totaly dependant upon that fig species in order to breed. The trees produce three types of flower; male, a long-styled female and a short-styled female flower, often called the gall flower. All three types of flower are contained within the structure we usually think of as the fruit.
The female fig wasp enters a fig and lays its eggs on the short styled female flowers while pollinating the long styled female flowers. Wingless male fig wasps emerge first, inseminate the emerging females and then bore exit tunnels out of the fig for the winged females. Females emerge, collect pollen from the male flowers and fly off in search of figs whose female flowers are receptive. In order to support a population of its pollinator, individuals of a Ficus spp. must flower asynchronously. A population must exceed a critical minimum size to ensure that at any time of the year at least some plants have overlap of emmission and reception of fig wasps. Without this temporal overlap the short-lived pollinator wasps will go locally extinct[
413- Title
- Global Invasive Species Database
- Publication
-
- Author
-
- Website
- http://www.issg.org/database/welcome/
- Publisher
-
- Year
- 0
- ISBN
-
- Description
- Very detailed information on almost 400 species (with more being added) of plants that have become weeds in areas outside their native range.
].
Edible Uses
None known
Medicinal
The crushed leaves are applied as a poultice to treat boils[
514- Title
- Medicinal Plants Used by Chakma Tribe in Hill Tracts Districts of Bangladesh.
- Publication
-
- Author
- Rahman M.A.; Uddin S.B.; Wilcock C.C.
- Publisher
- Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge.
- Year
- 2007 Vol 6(3)
- ISBN
-
- Description
- Brief details of medicinal plants used by the Chakma tribe.
].
A paste made from the bark is applied as an ointment in the treatment of cuts and wounds[
782- Title
- Ethnobotany of the Valaiyans of Karandamalai, Dindigul District, Tamil Nadu, India.
- Publication
- Ethnobotanical Leaflets 12: 195-203.
- Author
- Kottaimuthu. R.
- Website
- http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/ebl
- Publisher
- The Berkeley Electronic Press
- Year
- 2008
- ISBN
-
- Description
- Terse information on the medicinal uses of plants by a tribe of people in southern India. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
].
Other Uses
The white wood is moderately hard, with alternate bands of soft pale and firm dark tissue, very regular and concentric[
146- Title
- A Manual of Indian Timbers.
- Publication
-
- Author
- Gamble. J. S.
- Publisher
- Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh
- Year
- 1972
- ISBN
- -
- Description
- First written in the 19th century, but still a classic, giving a lot of information on the uses and habitats of Indian trees. Not for the casual reader.
]. No uses are recorded for it.
Propagation
Seed -
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Useful Tropical Plants Database 2014 by
Ken Fern,
web interface by
Ajna Fern
with help from
Richard Morris.
