笔管榕 bi guan rong

Ficus geniculata Kurz var. abnormalis Kurz.

Trees, deciduous. Bark blackish brown. Branches with few aerial roots; branchlets pale red, glabrous. Stipules caducous, lanceolate, ca. 2 cm, membranous, sparsely pubescent. Leaves alternate or fasciculate; petiole 3-7 cm, subglabrous; leaf blade elliptic to oblong, 10-15 × 4-6 cm, ± papery, glabrous, base rounded, margin entire or slightly undulate, apex shortly acuminate; secondary veins 7-9 on each side of midvein. Figs axillary on leafy branchlets, paired or solitary, or in small clusters on older leafless branchlets, purplish black when mature, depressed globose, 5-8 mm in diam., apical pore ± concave; peduncle 3-8 mm; involucral bracts broadly ovate, basally leathery. Male, gall, and female flowers within same fig. Male flowers: few, near apical pore, sessile; calyx lobes 3, broadly ovate; stamen 1; filament short; anther ovoid. Gall flowers: many, similar to female flowers but ovary with a thick long stalk; stigma linear. Female flowers: sessile or pedicellate; calyx lobes 3, lanceolate; style short, lateral; stigma rounded. Fl. Apr-Jun.

Plains or villages mainly near seacoast; 100-1400 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan, S Yunnan, SE Zhejiang [Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].

This species has often been treated as Ficus superba var. japonica, but it is quite distinct from F. superba s.str. which does not occur within the Flora area (Berg, in litt.). Chinese material has also been named as F. tenuipes S. Moore, but we follow Corner, who regarded F. tenuipes as a synonym of F. superba s.str. Chinese records of F. wightiana Wallich ex Miquel were based on misidentifications of this species.