It is a much branched small tree or rather shrub. The leaves are simple and petiolate, and the phyllotaxy is opposite with decussate leaf pettern
It may be a ficus only, may be F. hispida but looks as if in a shady place
Mohanan Sir I was expecting that you will certainly identify this plant species but unfortunately you are also in state of confusion. Yes the plant has been photographed from partially shady place but it grows successfully in open sun light also.
Dear Aravind
It is not easy to identify plants from photographs, that too when they are without flowers or fruits. You may please check the plant is having a milky latex . All Ficus are with latex and the leaf bud covered by a foliaceous bract. F. hispida is the only Indian species having an opposite decussate phyllotaxi. But F. hispida has a very rough hispid leaves. See whether there is latex.
Dear Arvind,
It is not easy to identify your plant without flowers or fruits. I attached to this message photographs and Description about Ficus hispida.
Description:
Trees, to 10 m high laxly branched; bark grey, smooth; blaze yellow; exudation milky; young shoots hispid; internodes of branchlets hollow. Leaves simple, opposite; stipules 11-15 mm long, interpetiolar, ovate-lanceolate, cauducous, often in whorls of 4 on the receptacles with leafless branches; petiole 1-4 cm long, stout, hispid, with a subnodal gland; lamina 7-20 x 6-10 cm, oblong, obovate, elliptic-oblong, ovate-oblong or obovate-oblong, base round, subcordate or cuneate, apex abruptly acute or acuminate or cuspidate, margin subentire to minutely dentate, membranous, scabrid, hispid-pubescent; 3-5-ribbed from base, lateral nerves 5-6 pairs, pinnate, prominent, intercostae scalariform, prominent. Flowers unisexual; inflorescence a syconia, dioecious, fascicled on trunk or on elongated pendulous or trailing leafless branches, depressed-globose, base narrowed, sticky pubescent without, faintly ribbed; peduncle 5-15 mm long, stout; basal bracts 3, 1-1.5 mm long, subtriangular, orifice slightly raised, closed by 5-6 apical bracts and numerous small inner bracts; internal bristles absent, appressed lateral bracts when present 2-4 mm wide; male flowers and gall flowers in same receptacle; female flowers in separate; male flowers ostiolar, in 2 rings; tepals 3 broad; stamen 1, subsessile; anther oblong, parallel, unequal; female flowers sessile or stalked; perianth short, tubular to 2 mm, glabrous; ovary depressed-globose, superior, red-brown; style 1.5 mm long, hairy; stigma clavate; gall flowers same as female but larger and distinctly stalked. Syconium 2-2.5 cm across, yellow; achenes 1.5 mm, lenticular, keeled with prominent hilum.
The plant is definitely a species of Ficus( F. hispida). The plant is prevalent in Bengal as wild one and locally known as DUMUR. I know the plant. The plant is with milky latex and hispidulous.
Decussate leaves with interpetiolar stipules are found in a number of families, particularly Rubiaceae and Urticaceae -- but not in Ficus.
I am unconvinced that the fruits shown in the last figure belong to the same plant as the leaves shown previously.
Ficus hispida surely has an opposite decussate leaves. The fruits are also very peculiar here, borne on long drooping leafless branched spikes. Both leaves and fruits shown in the figures are of F. hispida only.
Dear Dr. Mohanan Sir,
As per you suggestion I have checked the plant and found that it produces milky latex.
Dear Aravind
Then surely this is Ficus hispida, but grown in a shaddy place
Thank you very much to all of you especially Dr. Mohanan and Ashok Ghosh in establishing the exact identity of the presented plant species. In fact the absence of flowers and fruits and the non-rough nature of leaves were the main reasons behind establishing the exact identity of this plant species by me. Now with the help of all of you it is clear that the presented plant is Ficus hispida L. f. (syn. Ficus oppositifolia Roxb.) of Moraceae family.
That's my pleasure Dr. Arvind Singh but you are excellent in angiospermic species identification-- Carry on and help us- Dr. Asok Ghosh
This is Ficus hispida, This is a small but well distributed species of tropical fig tree. It occurs in many parts of Asia and as far south east as Australia.There is a large variety of local common names. Like a number of ficus, the leaves are sandpapery to touch. An unusual feature is the figs which hang on long stems.
Ficus hispida L.f. (Moraceae), the hairy fig or rough-leafed stem-fig, is unlike most other Singapore Ficus species in that it has opposite leaves. It is a pioneer species and commonly found in secondary forest and wasteland vegetation. It was reported to be absent in the south of Peninsular Malaysia but recently recorded in Singapore at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Gambas Avenue, Labrador Nature Reserve, and Pasir Panjang Road. The presence of young plants near fruiting trees in abandoned areas suggests that Ficus hispida is capable of reproducing in Singapore. We propose that Ficus hispida be categorised as an exotic plant in an early phase of naturalising in Singapore.
Article Assessment of Diversity in the Genus Ficus L. (Moraceae) of ...
https://lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg/app/uploads/2017/06/2013nis085-090.pdf
Probably this is the plant with fruits that you uploaded without fruit.
Arvind Singh
Ficus hispida is a small but well distributed species of tropical fig tree. It occurs in many parts of Asia and as far south east as Australia.There is a large variety of local common names. Like a number of ficus, the leaves are sandpapery to touch. An unusual feature is the figs which hang on long stems.
In Australia the fruit are eaten by cassowaries and double-eyed fig parrots. Phayre's leaf monkey feeds on the leaves as do the larvae of the moth Melanocercops ficuvorella. The yet unnamed nematode species Caenorhabditis sp. 35 has been found in Aceh, Indonesia, associated with the tree.
Please note the following links:
http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Hairy%20Fig.html
Article Ficus hispida Linn.: A review of its pharmacognostic and eth...
Dear Arvind Singh
You are a Good Scientist.
Best Regards
Dear Ghassan Fadhil M. Hussain Smaisim
I follow your contribtions.
Best regards
Dear Dr. Werner Greuter
Thank you for your useful information.
Best regrads
Sorry to say that i find it hard to agree with this identification as serrulate margins of the leaves under consideration are missing in Ficus hispida.
To me it f e e l s (!) lika a (sub)tropical Viburnum species which i would expect from mountainous monsoon forests
I could not say any suggestion due to absence of flowers and fruits of the species
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