Ficus callosa Willd. (MORACEAE)
Common names
Kannada: Neeruvate, Thagadu golimara.
Tamil: Koli-al.
Description: Evergreen trees, 15-20 m tall, with pearly-white juice and without aerial root; branchlets hoary, warted. Leaves alternate, elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, 10-22 x 5-14 cm, acute or rounded at base, subacute or acuminate at apex, rigid, hard, coriaceous, smooth and shining above, pale beneath, pubescent when young; basal nerves 3-5, lateral nerves 6-7 pairs, thin, prominent below; distinct reticulations; petioles 3-5 cm long; stipules ca 1.5 cm long, pubescent. Receptacles pedunculate, solitary, axillary, subglobose; bracts 3, ovate, pubescent. Perianth lobes 3 in male flowers and 4 in female fertile and gall flowers, spathulate. Male flowers: numerous, stamens 1 or 2; filaments short; anthers small. Gall flowers: style elongate, stigma 2-fid. Productive flowers feature a single-chambered ovary, an elongated style, and a deeply divided stigma. The figs, subglobose or obovoid, measure 1.5 to 2.5 cm in diameter and turn yellow when ripe. Numerous small seeds are present.
Flowering : April – July.
Fruiting : June – July.
Distribution: India: Frequent in semi-evergreen forests of the Western Ghats, up to 800 m. Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Java.
