Ficus subgen. Ficus in Flora of China @ efloras.org

4. Ficus subgen. Ficus

无花果亚属 wu hua guo ya shu

Covellia Gasparrini.

Trees, shrubs, or climbers, usually terrestrial, rarely epiphytic; dioecious. Creeping branches with adventitious roots. Stipules fully amplexicaul or sometimes semiamplexicaul. Leaves spirally arranged; leaf blade margin often toothed; wax glands in axils of main basal veins, often also in other vein axils or also on nodes. Figs usually axillary on leafy stems, sometimes below leaves, solitary or paired, interfloral bracts absent, internal bristles mostly present, apical pore relatively large, with 3 or more upper bracts visible; involucral bracts usually present. Perianth lobes joined or free, occasionally absent, often hairy. Male flowers: dispersed or around apical pore, pedicellate or sessile; stamens 1-3(-4); pistillode usually absent. Gall flowers: with a simple often ± funnel-shaped stigma. Female flowers: stigma often 2-parted, subulate, not conspicuously papillate. Fruit an achene.

About 60 species: from NE Africa and the Mediterranean region through Asia to China; 35 species (eight endemic, one introduced) in China.

Corner placed all dioecious species of Ficus in this subgenus, but we have followed Berg, who transferred some of the more distinctive groups into the additional subgenera, F. subgen. Synoecia and F. subgen. Sycidium or into an enlarged F. subgen. Sycomorus. The species remaining are all pollinated by fig wasps belonging to the genus Blastophaga.

1 Scandent or prostrate shrubs attached to substrate by adventitious roots. (2)

+ Trees or shrubs sometimes scrambling or epiphytic but stems not climbing by adventitious roots. (5)

2 (1) Figs on procumbent leafless stems, usually underground, sessile; leaf blade 1.5-4 cm wide, margin finely toothed. 64 F. tikoua

+ Figs axillary on leafy stems, with peduncle to 1 cm, rarely sessile; leaf blade 0.3-2 cm wide, margin entire or sometimes irregularly undulate with 2 or 3 teeth on each side. (3)

3 (2) Leaf blade (0.5-)1-1.5(-3) cm; stipules 3-4 mm; petiole less than 4 mm. 62 F. vaccinioides

+ Leaf blade 2-13 cm; stipules 4-15 mm; petiole 4-15 mm. (4)

4 (3) Branchlets sparsely pubescent to subglabrous; peduncle (3-)5-7 mm; figs pale brown, ca. 1.2 cm in diam. 63 F. tannoensis

+ Branchlets densely covered with short and thick gray-white hairs; peduncle 7-10 mm; figs purplish black to brown red when mature, 1.5-2 cm in diam. 65 F. abelii

5 (1) Figs with longitudinal ridges, conic to spindle-shaped. 59 F. ischnopoda

+ Figs not ridged, globose, conic-globose, ovoid, ellipsoid, ellipsoid-globose, conic-ellipsoid, pear-shaped, or cylindric. (6)

6 (5) Achenes tuberculate or rugose, basally with double keels; male flowers always near apical pore; leaf blade without cystoliths (with small cystoliths in F. pyriformis). (7)

+ Achenes smooth, not or only slightly keeled; male flowers scattered or near apical pore; leaf blade with cystoliths at least abaxially. (13)

7 (6) Leaf blade abaxially with white or yellow soft felted hairs and hairs 3-5 mm. 66 F. esquiroliana

+ Leaf blade abaxially without felted hairs. (8)

8 (7) Leaves palmately divided. 69 F. simplicissima

+ Leaves not palmately divided. (9)

9 (8) Leaf blade 15-25 cm, densely reticulated; figs with gall flowers green or yellow and open when mature. 70 F. ruficaulis

+ Leaf blade 4-15 cm, sparsely reticulated; figs with gall flowers red and not open when mature. (10)

10 (9) Leaf blade abaxially densely golden yellow tomentose. 68 F. fulva

+ Leaf blade abaxially sparsely pubescent, puberulent, or glabrous. (11)

11 (10) Leaf blade with 3 or 4 lateral veins on each side of midvein, basal lateral veins extending to 1/2 of leaf blade length; figs 0.5-0.7 cm in diam. 71 F. chartacea

+ Leaf blade with 5-11(-15) lateral veins on each side of midvein, basal lateral veins much shorter than 1/2 of leaf blade length; figs 1-3 cm in diam. (12)

12 (11) Leaf blade apex acute, acuminate, or caudate; figs pear-shaped, 1.5-3 cm in diam. 47 F. pyriformis

+ Leaf blade apex obtuse to blunt; figs globose,1-1.2 cm in diam. 48 F. variolosa

13 (6) Leaf blade usually 3-5-lobed. (14)

+ Leaf blade unlobed. (15)

14 (13) Stems and leaves with inconspicuous short gray pubescence; fig pear-shaped, with very inconspicuous hairs, inside without bristles. 38 F. carica

+ Stems and leaves with long soft or coarse hairs or bristles (sometimes leaves glabrous); fig ± globose, with long, stiff, spreading, golden-yellow or brown hairs and also pubescent, inside with abundant bristles. 67 F. hirta

15 (13) Leaf blade with cystoliths on both surfaces. (16)

+ Leaf blade with cystoliths on abaxial surface only. (17)

16 (15) Figs with persistent erect bracts around apical pore; leaf blade margin entire or apically toothed, apex acuminate to caudate; trees 3-10 m tall; tepals white or yellow; male flowers with 3-5 stamens. 39 F. henryi

+ Figs without erect bracts around apical pore; leaf blade margin apically undulate or with a few blunt teeth, apex usually conspicuously caudate; shrubs or small trees, 1-3 m tall; tepals dark red; male flowers with 1 or 2(or 3) stamens. 40 F. subincisa

17 (15) Figs sessile to subsessile. (18)

+ Figs pedunculate. (22)

18 (17) Leaf apex acute to obtuse, basal lateral veins extending to 1/3-1/2 of leaf blade length. (19)

+ Leaf blade apex acuminate to caudate, basal veins much shorter than 1/3 of leaf blade length. (20)

19 (18) Tree or shrub 2-10 m tall; leaf blade with gray to brown hairs; secondary veins 3-5 on each side of midvein. 50 F. chapaensis

+ Shrub to 3 m tall; leaf blade with yellowish brown coarse hairs; secondary veins 5 or 6 on each side of midvein. 72 F. tuphapensis

20 (18) Leaf blade secondary veins 3 or 4 on each side of midvein. 55 F. ovatifolia

+ Leaf blade secondary veins 6-15 on each side of midvein. (21)

21 (20) Trees to 15 m tall; leaf blade ± leathery, adaxially smooth. 43 F. neriifolia

+ Shrubs or small trees; leaf blade usually papery, adaxially scabrous. 54 F. heteromorpha

22 (17) Stipules 4-8 mm. (23)

+ Stipules 10-15 mm. (26)

23 (22) Petiole 1.5-1.7 cm; leaf blade 4.5-5 cm wide, base rounded to auriculate. 57 F. undulata

+ Petiole 0.5-1 cm; leaf blade 1.5-4 cm wide, base cuneate. (24)

24 (23) Branchlets pilose; leaf blade ovate-lanceolate, margin ciliate. 56 F. sinociliata

+ Branchlets short pubescent; leaf blade oblanceolate, narrowly elliptic, or ± linear, margin entire. (25)

25 (24) Figs ovoid-globose, 0.6-1 cm in diam. 58 F. formosana

+ Figs pear-shaped, 1.5-2 cm in diam. 65 F. abelii

26 (22) Leaf blade with basal lateral veins short, extending less than 1/4 of leaf blade length. (27)

+ Leaf blade with basal lateral veins extending to 1/4-1/2 of leaf blade length. (30)

27 (26) Petiole 1.5-5 cm. 53 F. daimingshanensis

+ Petiole 0.3-1 cm. (28)

28 (27) Trees, 7-10 m tall. 51 F. filicauda

+ Shrubs, to 2 m tall. (29)

29 (28) Branchlets sparsely pubescent; petiole 0.3-0.7 cm; involucral bracts ovate-triangular. 44 F. fusuiensis

+ Branchlets coarsely hairy, glabrescent; petiole ca. 1 cm; involucral bracts broadly ovate. 52 F. gasparriniana

30 (26) Branchlets yellowish brown, hairs reddish yellow, scurfy. 41 F. langkokensis

+ Branchlets not yellowish brown, hairs if present not reddish yellow scurfy. (31)

31 (30) Figs inside with abundant bristles. 42 F. pedunculosa

+ Figs inside with few or no bristles. (32)

32 (31) Peduncle 1-5 cm. (33)

+ Peduncle to 1 cm. (34)

33 (32) Branchlets with scattered grayish white bristles; petiole 0.3-0.7 cm. 60 F. stenophylla

+ Branchlets glabrous or densely brown-tomentose; petiole 1-4 cm. 46 F. erecta

34 (32) Figs 1-2 cm in diam.; plants 3-8 m tall. 49 F. trivia

+ Figs 0.4-1 cm in diam.; plants 1-2 m tall. (35)

35 (34) Leaf blade finely pubescent, often constricted in middle (violin-shaped). 61 F. pandurata

+ Leaf blade with coarse and bent or barbed hairs, never violin-shaped. 45 F. ruyuanensis

List of lower taxa