Ficus amplissima

Ficus amplissima is a thornless and large deciduous tree growing up to 20 m. It has a spreading crown and few aerial roots.

The bark of Ficus amplissima is dark grey or brown with a smooth surface and with numerous transversal lenticels.

The leaves of Ficus amplissima grow alternately on the stem (spirally arranged).
The leaf is simple, bright green-coloured above and paler beneath. The leaf is coriaceous and glabrous on both sides.
The leaves have a 4-5 cm long and pubescent petiole.
The leaf blade is 8-12 cm long and 5-8 cm wide. The shape of the blade is ovate, the apex is acuminate, the base is rounded and the margins are entire.
The venation of the leaf is reticulate with a prominent midrib.

The flowers of Ficus amplissima are enclosed within a fleshy receptacle referred to as the fig. What we think of as a fruit is an inflorescence, a flower-bearing structure called syconium (*).
The syconium of Ficus amplissima is monoecious, containing both female and male flowers and also gall flowers (hosts of pollinators).

(*) The syconium is an urn-shaped receptacle which contains between 50 to 7000 (depending on the species) highly simplified uniovulate flowers or florets on its inner surface. It is closed off from most organisms by the ostiole, formed by bracts.
Syconia can be monoecious or functionally dioecious : the former contain female flowers with variable style length and few male flowers, and produce seeds and pollen. The latter have male and female forms in different plants : seed figs contain female flowers with long styles and produce seeds; gall figs contain female flowers with short styles and male flowers and produce pollen.
Once pollinated, the florets develop into achenes or drupes, in which the seeds are enclosed by a layer of endocarp. From this perspective, the fig is an enclosure with tens to thousands of fruits within it. (Galil, J., Fig biology, 1977)

The fig, what we referred to as a fruit, is in fact a fleshy enclosure, an infructescence that contains hundreds of tiny fruits (achenes).

The fruits of Ficus amplissima are globose and smooth achenes, brownish and about 1 mm across.
The figs are sessile, in pairs at the axil of the leaves.
They are 1.3-1.5 cm across, depressed-globose, downy and they are dark purple when ripe.

The wood of Ficus amplissima has a hard, straight grain with a smooth surface. It is an attractive wood for good quality decorative woodwork.

Source : Howard, 1948, A Manual of the Timbers of the World: Their Characteristics and Uses

The pounded bark of Ficus amplissima is used in stomachache and gastric disorders.

The latex is used to increase lactation in women.

Source : Quattrocchi, 2012, CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants