Accession Count: 0
Common Name:
chalate
Family Name:
Moraceae
Botanical Name:
Ficus insipida
Sub Species:
Variety:
Forma:
Cultivar:
Characteristics:
Ficus insipida is a fast-growing, medium to large-sized tropical evergreen. In tropical environments, it develops buttress roots and a strangling growth habit that is characteristic of strangler figs. As a hemiepiphyte, the germination of seeds occur on the branches of the host tree, followed by the growth of aerial roots that descend and establish themselves in the ground. After establishment, roots will anastomose, wrapping themselves around and eventually taking over the host. When grown directly in the ground, it forms a conventional, erect habit. F. insipida is free-growing, reaching between 40 to 130 feet tall. It is a dense-shading species exhibiting an open, spreading crown. Bark is smooth and light gray. Elliptic leaves are shiny green with distinctive yellow veins, size ranging between five to 25 centimeters long, two to 11 centimeters wide. This evergreen develops unisexual flowers (diecious, monesious) that are enveloped within a syconium during the spring, maturing into edible, yellow-green fruit (1).
Compound:
Fic ins
Geographic Origin:
Mexican Tropics
Ecozone Origin:
Neotropic
Biome Origin:
Natural History:
Ficus insipida is native to wet evergreen, and seasonally dry deciduous forests (2). Its wide distribution includes Sonora, southwestern Chihuahua to Paraguay, and the Caribbean. They are also distributed in in western Amazonia and southern Brazil (3).
Cultivation Notes:
F. insipida is highly versatile, and a popular ornamental in gardens. They may be grown in areas with full sun to partial shade, and although they are hemiepiphytes they may be grown directly in the soil, ideally well-drained and mulched (2). Highly arid climates limit their spreading nature, hence care should be taken when growing F. insipida in tropical regions that nurture its fast-growing, opportunistic nature.
Ethnobotany:
Amazonian tribes use prepared latex extracted from F. insipida as an anthelmintic remedy (4), targeting parasitic infections. Currently, its latex is also marketed as a digestive aid, meat tenderizer, and chill-proofing agent in beer (5).
Height:
20 - 50 feet
Width:
16 - 20 feet
Growth Rate:
Moderate Growing
Grow Season:
ForeSummer
Flower Season:
Spring
Color:
Green
Function:
Shade
Spread:
Spreading
Allergen:
Non-allergenic
Invasive:
Benign
Toxicity:
Toxic
Hardy:
Semi-hardy
Water Use:
Moderate Water Use
Citations:
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Retrieved November 25, 2018.
- Useful Tropical Plants Database. Retrieved November 25, 2018.
- The Trees of Sonora, Mexico. Retrieved November 25, 2018.
- NCBI. Retrieved November 25, 2018.
- Economic Botany, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1990), pp. 534-536. Retrieved November 25, 2018.
