Ficus palmata Forssk.
F. pseudosycomorus Decne.
Eng.: Oriental wild fig. Spa.: Higuera silvestre oriental. Ara.: Hummat, hamat, tin barri, tin el-barr, samyuk.
Deciduous shrub or small tree up to 5 m in height, purple branches when dry, finely puberulous or almost glabrous, occasionally silky-tomentose. Leaves sparse, membranous in texture, dark green and rough to the touch on the upper side, paler and pubescent or subglabrous on the underside; leaf blade ovate to broadly ovate or rounded, sometimes with 3 shallow lobes, 3-7(12) × 2.5-9(14) cm, serrated or dentate margin, truncated to cordate at the base, acute or ± rouded apex. Venation whitish, more prominent on the underside, with 3-5 basal veins and with 5-7 pairs of lateral veins each side of the midrib. Petiole 0.6-4 cm in length, green-chestnut to green-reddish. Stipules 6-10 mm in length, ovate to rounded. Syconia solitary or in pairs, on puberulent peduncles 1-1.5 cm in length; receptacles subglobose to pyriform, umbonate, stipitate, 1-1.8 cm long, pubescent and light green when young, glabrous and purplish when mature and with 3 basal bracts; ostiole protruding with visible bracts; bracts ovate to ovate-lanceolate, subacute, 3-4 cm in length
Flowering:
March to June.
Fruiting:
June to August. Fruits are only edible once mature
Habitat:
Bottom of valleys, rocky slopes, crags and crevices among rocks and other areas where the roots have a minimum water supply, in dry, sometimes desert environments.
Distribution:
There are 2 subspecies in the area of this study. F palmata subsp. palmata, with ovate leaves, acuminate or acute, present in NE Africa and the Arabian Peninsula; and F. palmata subsp. virgata Browics, with wider, sometimes orbicular leaves, with rounded or obtuse apex, present in Asia, from the Sinai Peninsula and Palestine up to Pakistan and the NW of India.
Observations:
Some authors believe that this species could be the wild ancestor of Ficus carica.
Conservation status:
Common and widely distributed species, it does not seem threatened. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. However, marginal populations, such as those in the Sinai Peninsula, which can be considered of high genetic and biogeographic value, could be threatened.