Ficus hemsleyana
Content
Description
Shrub or tree up to 7 m tall, often hemi-epiphytic or lianescent.
Branchlets drying brown to yellowish.
internal hairs sparse and minute.
Leaves distichous;
stipules semi-amplexicaul, (0.5-)1-1.8 cm long, appressed-puberulous, ciliolate, or glabrous, striate, subpersistent (or caducous).
Taxonomy
1This species is quite distinct in the base of the lamina, at one side with a large auricle concealing the petiole. It resembles F. rubromidotis, with a less pronounced auricle at the base of the lamina. The two species can be easily distinguished by the stipules, semi-amplexicaul in F. hemsleyana and fully amplexicaul in F. rubromidotis. Moreover, they differ in the basal pair of lateral veins, short (up to 1/10 the length of the lamina) in F. rubromidotis and up to 1/4-1/3(-1/2) the length of the lamina in F. hemsleyana, as well as in the indumentum of leafy twigs and petioles which is more conspicuous in the latter than in the former.
2 Ficus hemsleyana can also be confused with F. aurita (var. auriculifera), but in the former the upper surface of the lamina is hairy, at least at the bases of the midrib and basal lateral veins, being entirely glabrous in the latter.