From Gardenology.org - Plant Encyclopedia and Gardening Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
1,856 bytes added
, 04:30, 1 August 2007
{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = ''Ficus lyrata''
| image = DSC_0504.JPG
| image_width = 250px
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Rosales]]
| familia = [[Moraceae]]
| genus = ''[[Ficus]]''
| subgenus = ''[[Banyan|Urostigma]]''
| species = '''''F. lyrata'''''
| binomial = ''Ficus lyrata''
| binomial_authority = [[Otto Warburg|Warb.]]
}}
'''''Ficus lyrata''''' ('''fiddleaf fig''') is a species of [[Ficus|fig]] tree, native to western [[Africa]], from [[Cameroon]] west to [[Sierra Leone]]. It grows in lowland tropical [[rainforest]].
It is a [[banyan]] fig (''Ficus'' subgenus ''Urostigma'') that commonly starts life as an [[epiphyte]] high in the crown of another tree; it then sends roots down to the ground which envelop the trunk of the host tree and slowly strangles it. It can also grow as a free-standing tree on its own, growing up to 12-15 m tall. The [[leaf|leaves]] are variable in shape, but often with a broad apex and narrow middle, resembling a [[fiddle]]; they are up to 45 cm long and 30 cm broad, though usually smaller, with a leathery texture and a wavy margin. The [[fruit]] is a green fig 2.5-3 cm diameter.
===Cultivation and uses===
It is a popular [[ornamental tree]] in subtropical and tropical gardens, and is also grown as a [[houseplant]], where it usually stays shorter when put into pots than when grown outdoors. Their main horticultural feature are their large leaves.
==External links==
*[http://www.figweb.org/Ficus/Subgenus_Urostigma/Section_Galoglychia/Subsection_Cyathistipulae/Ficus_lyrata.htm Figweb: ''Ficus lyrata'']
*[http://www.hear.org/starr/hiplants/reports/html/ficus_lyrata.htm Description at Plants of Hawaii.]
*Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan.
[[Category:Ficus]]
{{tree-stub}}