Ficus microcarpa

Botanical Description

Chinese banyan is an evergreen, small or medium-sized banyan tree with a dense, spreading crown; it can grow up to 25 metres tall and develope numerous slender aerial roots from the branches[ 310 Title Plant Resources of Southeast Asia Publication Author Website http://proseanet.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia. ]. The bole has large buttresses[ 286 Title Flora of Australia Publication Author Website http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/abif/flora/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description The full information from the Flora of Australia - on-line. An excellent resource. ]. It can start 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[ 302 Title Tropical Ornamentals; A Guide Publication Author Whistler. W. Arthur. Publisher Timber Press Inc. Oregon. Year 2000 ISBN 0-88192-448-2 Description An excellent little guide to some of the more commonly cultivated ornamental plants of the Tropics, often giving some information on the plants other uses. ]. As the tree grows larger it produces aerial roots from the crown that descend and become prop roots, feeding and supporting the canopy and allowing it to spread even wider[ 286 Title Flora of Australia Publication Author Website http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/abif/flora/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description The full information from the Flora of Australia - on-line. An excellent resource. ]. The plant is sometimes harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and source of fibre, latex and wood. It is cultivated, especially in southern India, as a shade tree in coffee plantations and is widely planted in SE Asia and other tropical regions as an ornamental shade tree[ 317 Title Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants Publication Author Website http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Terse details of a huge range of useful plants. ]. It is planted as a pioneer species in reforestation projects in Thailand[ 998 Title Forest Restoration Planting in Northern Thailand Publication Proceedings of the Southeast Asian Moving Workshop on Conservation, Management and Utilization of Forest Genetic Resources No. 31/2002 Author Pakkad G.; Elliott S.; Anusarnsunthorn V. Et al Website http://www.fao.org/ Publisher Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; Bangkok Year 2002 ISBN Description A report on reforestation in northern Thailand by using specific pioneer species. It can be downloaded from the Internet. ].