Ficus insipida

What to Eat

Edible parts: Latex - food tenderiser, Fruit

The fruit are eaten, though they are not particularly popular. The latex is used commercially as a meat tenderiser, in edible collagen films, sausage casings, beer chillproofing, and for curdling milk in cheese production.

Known Hazards

Where to Find It

It is a tropical plant. It grows in open areas.

Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Central America, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guianas, Guyana, Mexico*, Nicaragua, North America, Panama, Peru, South America, Suriname, Venezuela, West Indies,

How to Identify

A fig. It is a large tree. It has buttresses. the bark is smooth and grey brown. The leaves are bright shiny green with yellow veins. The fallen leaves turn bright yellow. There is a circular scar at the base of each leaf. Broken leaves drip white latex. The flowers and fruit are inside the fig balls. The flowers are pollinated by wasps.

Nutrition Score: 22/100

How to Grow

Prefers a sunny position. A fairly fast-growing plant. Fig trees have a unique form of fertilization, each species relying on a single, highly specialized species of wasp that is itself totaly dependant upon that fig species in order to breed. The trees produce three types of flower; male, a long-styled female and a short-styled female flower, often called the gall flower. All three types of flower are contained within the structure we usually think of as the fruit. The female fig wasp enters a fig and lays its eggs on the short styled female flowers while pollinating the long styled female flowers. Wingless male fig wasps emerge first, inseminate the emerging females and then bore exit tunnels out of the fig for the winged females. Females emerge, collect pollen from the male flowers and fly off in search of figs whose female flowers are receptive. In order to support a population of its pollinator, individuals of a Ficus spp. must flower asynchronously. A population must exceed a critical minimum size to ensure that at any time of the year at least some plants have overlap of emmission and reception of fig wasps. Without this temporal overlap the short-lived pollinator wasps will go locally extinct.

Propagation: Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a shaded position in a nursery seedbed. A low germination rate can be expected, with the seed sprouting within 20 - 60 days. When the seedlings are 3 - 4cm tall, transplant them to individual containers. They are ready to plant out 8 - 9 months later.

Medicinal Uses

The latex that flows from the trunk and branches is considered to be antiinflammatory, porgative, tonic and vermifuge It has a range of medicinal applications, being mixed with water and taken internally.. It is an effective anthelmintic, though it can be drastic, even corrosive, and is recommended in the treatment of ancylostomiasis (hookworm infection of the small intestine, which often leads to anaemia) and jaundice. It is also said to be aphrodisiac, a remedy for anaemia and to aid the memory. The leaves contain psoralen and several triterpenes.

Other Uses

A copious white, bitter-tasting latex flows from the trunk and branches when they are cut. It has medicinal uses. The young, hard fruits are used for making designs on hats and probably other articles. If a cross section of the fruit is pressed against the surface, a blackish circular figure of more or less permanence is left upon it. The heartwood is light brown, with dark gum striping and extensive pale or dark gray areas caused probably by stain; the sapwood is a creamy yellow or almost white. The texture is medium tos coarse; the grain straight to interlocked; lustre is medium; there is no distinctive odour or taste. The wood is light in weight to moderately heavy; soft; of low natural durability. It seasons quickly, with risks of twisting. It is easy to work, though it saws woolly; planing, moulding and turning are good to excellent; it takes a moderately smooth finish. It is used for doors and panels, light boxes, mouldings, furniture etc.

Ficus insipida is a common tropical tree in the fig genus of the family Moraceae growing in forest habitats along rivers. It ranges from Mexico to northern South America.

Other Information

The fruit are eaten but are not popular.

Notes

There are about 800-1000 Ficus species. They are mostly in the tropics. There are 120 Ficus species in tropical America.

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