Ficus religiosa L.

Taxonomy: Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Rosales > Moraceae > Ficus > F. religiosa

Description: Deciduous trees, to 25 m high; aerial roots absent; bark grey, smooth; exudation milky. Leaves simple, alternate, spiral; new leaves pink; stipules 1-1.5 cm long, lateral, ovate-lanceolate, puberulous; petiole 60-120 mm long, stout, glabrous, articulated, a gland at the apex below; lamina 5-13 x 4.5-12 cm, broadly ovate, base truncate or subcordate, apex caudate-acuminate, margin entire, undulate, glabrous, shining, coriaceous; 5-7-ribbed from base, lateral nerves 8-10 pairs, pinnate, slender, prominent beneath, looped near the margin, intercostae reticulate, prominent. Flowers unisexual; inflorescence a syconia, sessile, axillary, in pairs, obovoid or globose, twig wall thick; basal bracts 3, 3-5 mm long, ovate-obtuse, silky-puberulous, persistent, orifice, closed by 3 apical bracts in a disc 2-3 mm wide; internal bristles none; flowers of 4 kinds; male flowers ostiolar, sessile, in one ring; tepals 2, ovate-lanceolate, free, reddish; stamen 1; filaments 0.2 mm; anther oblong, parallel; female flowers sessile; tepals 3-4, linear-lanceolate, free, brownish, glabrous; ovary superior, ovoid-oblong, 1 mm, red-brown, style 1.5 mm, lateral, stigma rounded; gall flowers similar to female. Syconium 4-8 mm across, ripening pink, purple or black; achenes smooth.

Flowering and Fruiting: April - May

Uses: Alomost every parts are used in the preparations of herbal medicines. it usec traditionally as antiulcer,antibacterial, antidiabetic in the treatment of gonorrhea and skin diseases. Ayurveda, Folk medicine, Homoeopathy, Folk medicine, Sowa-Rigpa, Unani, Siddha, Traditional Chinese medicine

Cultivation:

References

http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org

https://indiabiodiversity.org