''Ficus virens'' is a plant of the genus ''

Ficus ''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family (biology), family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few spe ...

'' found in Pakistan, India, east and Southeast Asia, through Malaysia and into Northern Australia. Its common name is white fig; it is locally known as ''pilkhan'' and in the

Kunwinjku language Kunwinjku is a dialect of Bininj Kunwok, an Australian Aboriginal language. The Aboriginal people who speak Kunwinjku are the Bininj people, who live primarily in western Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Terri ...

it is called ''manbornde''. Like many figs, its fruits are edible. One of the most famous specimens of this tree is the Curtain Fig Tree of the

Atherton Tableland The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau, which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia. It has very deep, rich basaltic soils and the main industry is agriculture. The principal river flowing across the plateau is the B ...

, near Cairns, a popular tourist attraction. Another famous example is the Tree of Knowledge in Darwin. ''Ficus virens'' var. ''sublanceolata'' occurs the subtropical rainforest of northeastern

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, and south eastern

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Description

It is a medium-sized to huge tree which grows to a height of In dry areas and up to tall in wetter areas. It is a fig tree belonging to the group of trees known as strangler figs, which is because its seeds can germinate on other trees and grow to strangle and eventually kill the host tree. It has two marked growth periods in its Indian environment: in spring (February to early May), and in the time of the monsoon rains (i.e. June to early September). The new leaves are a beautiful shade of reddish pink and very pleasing to the eye. This is a very massive tree in which the width of the crown can sometimes exceed the height of the tree. Campbell exhibits a photograph of an individual which he states had a

girth Girth may refer to: Mathematics * Girth (functional analysis), the length of the shortest centrally symmetric simple closed curve on the unit sphere of a Banach space * Girth (geometry), the perimeter of a parallel projection of a shape * Girth ...

at breast height of , or a DBH of . The photo shows no sign of buttresses or a basal swelling.

Use as food

The leaves are known in

Thai cuisine Thai cuisine (, , ) is the national cuisine of Thailand. Thai cooking places emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with aromatics and spicy heat. The Australian chef David Thompson (chef), David Thompson, an expert on Thai food, observes that ...

as ''phak liap'' (). They are eaten boiled as a vegetable in Northern Thai curries, referred to in the Northern dialect as ''phak hueat'' (ผักเฮือด).

References

External links

*
Galamarrma, The Tree of Knowledge, Darwin, Australia - Exceptional Trees on Waymarking.com
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2717818 Epiphytes virens Flora of tropical Asia Rosales of Australia Rosids of Western Australia Flora of the Northern Territory Flora of Queensland Flora of New South Wales