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Useful Tropical Plants

Ficus trigona

L.f.

Moraceae

+ Synonyms

Ficus ajajuensis Dugand

Ficus alvareziana Dugand

Ficus coombsii Warb.

Ficus cotoneaster Warb. ex Ule

Ficus euomphala (Miq.) Miq.

Ficus fagifolia (Miq.) Miq.

Ficus fanshawei Standl.

Ficus juruensis Warb. ex Dugand

Ficus llanensis Dugand

Ficus llewelynii Standl.

Ficus plicato-ostiolata Pittier

Ficus regularis Standl.

Ficus vulpina Benoist

Ficus weberbaueri Standl.

Ficus wuiana (Rusby) Rossberg

Oluntos trigona (L.f.) Raf.

Urostigma costatum Rusby

Urostigma euomphalum Miq.

Urostigma fagifolium Miq.

Urostigma trigonum (L.f.) Miq.

Common Name:

Ficus trigona
Fruiting branch
Photograph by: A. Gentry
Creative Commons License
Ficus trigona Ficus trigona

General Information

Ficus trigona is a shrub or a tree with an open crown; it can grow up to 35 metres tall. The contorted bole can be up to 75cm in diameter. It often starts life as an epiphyte in the branch of a tree and can eventually send down aerial roots that, once they reach the ground, provide extra nutrients that help the plant grow more vigorously. These aerial roots can completely encircle the trunk of the host tree, constricting its growth - this, coupled with the more vigorous top growth, can lead to the fig outcompeting and killing the tree in which it is growing[
422
Title
Fruits of the Guianan Flora
Publication
 
Author
van Roosmalen. M.G.M.
Publisher
Institute of Systematic Boyany, Utrecht University; Netherlands.
Year
1985
ISBN
90-9000988-4
Description
Terse descriptions of over 1,700 species from the Guianas that bear fruits - not necessarily edible! Often mentions if the fruit is edible, plus gives brief description of habit and habitat.
,
453
Title
Woods of Northeastern Peru
Publication
 
Author
Williams L.
Website
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/
Publisher
Field Museum Press; Chicago.
Year
1936
ISBN
 
Description
Gives information on the properties of the wood of well over 1,000 species of woody plants from northeastern Peru. Can be downloaded from the Internet.
].
The tree is sometimes harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References


Range

S. America - Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam.

Habitat

Usually in or near swamps, along the sides of rivers and creeks and in young coastal plain[
422
Title
Fruits of the Guianan Flora
Publication
 
Author
van Roosmalen. M.G.M.
Publisher
Institute of Systematic Boyany, Utrecht University; Netherlands.
Year
1985
ISBN
90-9000988-4
Description
Terse descriptions of over 1,700 species from the Guianas that bear fruits - not necessarily edible! Often mentions if the fruit is edible, plus gives brief description of habit and habitat.
].

Properties

Medicinal Rating *  *
HabitTree
Height25.00 m
PollinatorsWasps
Cultivation StatusWild

Cultivation Details


Tolerant of seasonal inundation[
453
Title
Woods of Northeastern Peru
Publication
 
Author
Williams L.
Website
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/
Publisher
Field Museum Press; Chicago.
Year
1936
ISBN
 
Description
Gives information on the properties of the wood of well over 1,000 species of woody plants from northeastern Peru. Can be downloaded from the Internet.
].
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 ash of the burned young stems is consumed as a treatment for children's diarrhoea[
348
Title
Medicinal Plants of the Guianas
Publication
 
Author
DeFilipps, R. A.; Maina, S. L.; & Crepin, J.
Website
http://botany.si.edu/bdg/medicinal/index.html
Publisher
Smithsonian Museum
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
A down-loadable PDF document of a book in pre-publication awaiting illustration. An excellent, if rather terse, guide to the traditional medicinal uses of the plants of the region
].

Other Uses

The bark exudes a fair quantity of a whitish or pale yellow, slightly astringent latex[
453
Title
Woods of Northeastern Peru
Publication
 
Author
Williams L.
Website
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/
Publisher
Field Museum Press; Chicago.
Year
1936
ISBN
 
Description
Gives information on the properties of the wood of well over 1,000 species of woody plants from northeastern Peru. Can be downloaded from the Internet.
]. No uses are recorded.

The pale brown wood darkens slightly on exposure to air. Medium to fairly coarse-textured; straight or fairly straight-grained; odourless and tasteless. The wood is light to medium weight, easy to cut and takes a fairly lustrous finish. It is liable to stain in drying[
453
Title
Woods of Northeastern Peru
Publication
 
Author
Williams L.
Website
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/
Publisher
Field Museum Press; Chicago.
Year
1936
ISBN
 
Description
Gives information on the properties of the wood of well over 1,000 species of woody plants from northeastern Peru. Can be downloaded from the Internet.
]. No uses are recorded.

Propagation

Seed -
Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2024-03-29. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Ficus+trigona>

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