Laurel fig / Indian Laurel / Chinese Banyan

Ficus macrocarpa

A large spreading handsome evergreen fig tree with very small glossy dark green elliptical leaves with a slightly protruded pointy leaf, and limited areal roots which never touch ground.

Bark: Pale grey, smooth, marked with horizontal dots.

Leaf: Small about 2-3’’ long, dark green elliptical, on short stalks, with a slightly pointy tip. Glossy, and veins are almost invisible.

Fig: Small (less than ½’’) in pair pale at first brownish when mature with a darker apex

Range/habitat: Sub-Himalayan tract from Kumaon to Assam, Sundarbans, Bangladesh, Myanmar. From central India south to Sri Lanka. Like banyan it is also epiphytic and sometimes strangulates other trees. In mangrove forests usually it is found beside tidal rivers where water is just about to be brackish. In such case it develops full-fledged arial roots (probably to anchor in the tidal current)

Trivia and notes: Though uncommon in Kolkata, I’ve found one growing on a wall in Indian Oil office compound beside Dhakuria bridge. Somehow it is neglected in Kolkata though it can be a very good avenue tree

Where to Find: Inside Victoria Memorial compound there is one GPS 22.54672N, 88.34347E

Indian Oil, Dhakuria compound wall GPS 22.50932, 88.36728