Ficus virens Ait.

ചെറള

Family : MORACEAE

Synonym : Ficus infectoria Roxb.

Common Names : Chakkila, Cherla, Pepar

Flowering Period : January-March

Distribution : Indio-Malesia to Solomon Islands

Habitat : Evergreen forests and sacred grooves

Uses : Young shoots and young leaves edible - raw or cooked. They are sometimes used, in the preparation of curries. Fruit edible - raw or mixed with fresh raw vegetables. A decoction of the bark is used as an injection in the treatment of leucorrhoea. Applied externally, a bark decoction is used as a wash on ulcers and as a gargle in salivation. Grown as a shade tree in coffee plantations. The latex is used for caulking boats and waterproofing.

Key Characters :

Large trees; aerial roots many. Leaves alternate, to 17 x 6.5 cm, elliptic or oblong, acuminate, base cordate, glabrous, coriaceous; petiole to 5.5 cm; stipules lanceolate, to 1 cm long; figs monoecious, grey, in axillary pairs, globose, to 1 cm across, glabrescent; orifice closed by 3 bracts; peduncle ca 3 mm; basal bracts 3, broadly ovateacute, puberulous, persistent. Male flowers ostiolar, shortly stalked; tepals 3, stamen 1; female flowers sessile; gall flowers pedicellate.