Ficus religiosa - Sacred Fig Tree

❏ Binomial Name : Ficus religiosa L.

❏ Synonym : Urostigma religiosum

❏ Family : Moraceae

❏ Common Name : Sacred Fig Tree

❏ Tamil Name : Arasu

❏ Hindi Name : Pipal

❏ IUCN status: Not Evaluated

Ficus religiosa Botanical Description

Deciduous trees, to 25 m high; aerial roots absent; bark grey, smooth; exudation milky. Leaves simple, alternate, spiral; new leaves pink; stipules 1-1.5 cm long, lateral, ovate-lanceolate, puberulous; petiole 60-120 mm long, stout, glabrous, articulated, a gland at the apex below; lamina 5-13 x 4.5-12 cm, broadly ovate, base truncate or subcordate, apex caudate-acuminate, margin entire, undulate, glabrous, shining, coriaceous; 5-7-ribbed from base, lateral nerves 8-10 pairs, pinnate, slender, prominent beneath, looped near the margin, intercostae reticulate, prominent. Flowers unisexual; inflorescence a syconia, sessile, axillary, in pairs, obovoid or globose, twig wall thick; basal bracts 3, 3-5 mm long, ovate-obtuse, silky-puberulous, persistent, orifice, closed by 3 apical bracts in a disc 2-3 mm wide; internal bristles none; flowers of 4 kinds; male flowers ostiolar, sessile, in one ring; tepals 2, ovate-lanceolate, free, reddish; stamen 1; filaments 0.2 mm; anther oblong, parallel; female flowers sessile; tepals 3-4, linear-lanceolate, free, brownish, glabrous; ovary superior, ovoid-oblong, 1 mm, red-brown, style 1.5 mm, lateral, stigma rounded; gall flowers similar to female. Syconium 4-8 mm across, ripening pink, purple or black; achenes smooth. Fl. &Fr.: November-February.

Ficus religiosa Medicinal uses

❀ Leaves are used for medicinal purposes. Considered a holy tree in the hindu tradition. Figs eaten by birds. The fruits, leaves, bark and even the latex are used to prepare herbal remedies.

❀ Dried leaf powder is mixed with water and taken orally to get relief from body pain.

❀ Ficus religiosa leaves paste + Dioscorea bulbifera whole plant paste is mixed in equal amount. Then tablets containing 1-2 tea spoon mixture are prepared. One tablet is taken twice a day till commencement of next menstrual cycle.

❀ Fruits and bark are prescribed in diabetes.

❀ The leaves and young shoots are used as Purgative

❀ The decoction of bark is used to Sexual weakness and weakness of nerves.

❀ The bark decoction is used to wash wounds and ulcers.

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