ANAK POKOK RAMBONG...

..:::FICUS ELASTICA:::..

OUR SITE AREA..

YYUNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA, PULAU PINANG, MALAYSIA.YY

Our site area is in front of 'Pusat Penyelidikan Dasar' and near to the Alumni Office and School of Language Literature and Translation.

.:::. BOARD .:::.

EARTH AND TREE

YYY SURROUNDING.................. YYY

The row of the rambong's tree along the road in front of 'Pusat Penyelidikan Dasar' (Policy Research Center).

Policy Research Center's building.

The white building it is a 'School of Language Literature and Translation' just near to rambong tree area.

This picture showed the 'Anjung Budi Restaurant ' at Alumni Office Center.

Picture above showed the view you can see from rambong tree area.

PROBLEMS...

Pembuangan sampah pada kawasan pokok ini, sedikit sebanyak memberi imej yang buruk terhadap permandangan pokok ini.

Shamshul with rambong tree at USM (Universiti Sains Malaysia)d

MEASUREMENT..

The actual size of the trees is quite difficult to get and to measure. it is because the actual trunk of the trees have coverd by the root of the tree that become an additional trunk to support the heavy brances. But base on our rough measurement we have done, it is approximately around 26.37m (perimeter).

Special thankz to Iszuwan and Asma..ddd ;)..

SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION

Conservation Assignment: Ficus Elastica Moraceae (Rambong)

Name

Scientific : Ficus elastica
English : India rubber tree, India rubber fig
Malaysian : Rambong
Finnish : Kumipuu

Scientific classification

Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Order : Urticales
Family : Moraceae
Tribe : Ficeae
Genus : Ficus
Subgenus : Urostigma
Species : F. elastica

DESCRIPTION

"...A wide-spreading evergreen tree to 30 m tall which develops descending aerial roots to form a banyan. All parts contain copious white latex. Plants start from cutting as erect stems but soon develop several heavy spreading branches. Twigs are encircled by distinctive leaf scars and branches have thin smooth to finely rough gray-brown bark. The plants tend to branch at the base, and both trunks and branches develop slender dangling aerial roots, which quickly thicken to become strong downwardly branched supporting roots which may coalesce and eventually hide the original trunk. Spreading surface roots may also be formed. The shiny, leathery, broadly oval leaves are initially enclosed in a long pink papery scale, which leaves a circular scar as it falls. The leaves are 7-20 cm long, with smooth edges and blunt pointed tips and are paler below than above. In India, at least, pairs of oblong yellowish-green figs about 2 cm long develop among the leaves on the branches of older trees." (Swarbrick, 1997; p. 35).


PROPAGATION

As with other members of the genus Ficus, the flowers require a particular species of fig wasp to pollinate it in a co-evolved relationship. Because of this relationship, the rubber plant does not produce highly colourful or fragrant flowers to attract other pollinators. The fruit is a small yellow-green oval fig 1 centimetre (0.39 in) long, barely edible; it will only contain viable seed where the relevant fig wasp species is present.


NATIVE RANGE

India and southern Asia (Swarbrick, 1997; p. 35).


USES

It can yield a milky white latex also known as sap, which has been used in some cases to make rubber, but it should not be confused with the Pará rubber tree, the main commercial source of latex for rubber making. This sap is also an irritant to the eyes and skin and can be fatal if taken internally. In the past, it was grown as a source of natural rubber and is now widely used as ornamental foliage plant.


REFERENCES

Swarbrick, J. T. 1997. Environmental weeds and exotic plants on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean: a report to Parks Australia. 101 pp. plus appendix.

WHAT IS MORACEAE???

MORACEAE

Moraceae — often called the mulberry family or fig family — is a family of flowering plants comprising about 40 genera and over 1000 species. Most are widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, less so in temperate climates. The only synapomorphy within Moraceae is presence of lactifers and milky sap in all parenchymatous tissues, but generally useful field characters include two carpels sometimes with one reduced, compound inconspicuous flowers, and compound fruits. Included are well-known plants such as the fig, banyan, breadfruit, mulberry, and Osage-orange. The 'flowers' of Moraceae are often pseudanthia (reduced inflorescences).

CLASSIFICATION

Formerly positioned within the now defunct order Urticales, recent genetic studies have resulted in its placement within Rosales in a clade called the urticalean rosids that also includes Ulmaceae, Celtidaceae, Cannabaceae and Urticaceae. Cecropia, which were variously placed in the Moraceae, the Urticaceae, or their own family Cecropicaceae, have turned out to belong in the Urticaceae. Moraceae includes 5 tribes: Artocarpeae, Moreae, Dorstenieae, Ficeae, and Castilleae. With the exception of Moreae, which is large, morphologically diverse, and has a wide geographic distribution, these tribes are monophyletic. Based on molecular analyses of the phylogeny of these tribes, Moraceae is thought to have diverged 73-110 mya. Results from molecular analyses of Moraceae phylogeny have also suggested that contrary to the conventional principle that dioecy evolves from monoecy, dioecy was the primitive state in Moraceae and monoecy evolved within in it up to four times.

Scientific Classification

Kingdom : Plantae

(Unranked) : Angiosperms

(Unranked) : Eudicots

(Unranked) : Rosids

Order : Rosales

Family : Moraceae

WHAT IS FICUS ELASTICA???

Ficus elastica, also called the rubber fig, rubber bush, rubber plant, or Indian rubber bush is a species of plant in the fig genus, native to northeast India, southern Indonesia.

It is a fat bush in the banyan group of figs, growing to 30–40 metres (98–130 ft) (rarely up to 60 metres / 200 feet) tall, with a stout trunk up to 2 metres (6.6 ft) diameter. The trunk develops aerial and buttressing roots to anchor it in the soil and help support heavy branches. It has broad shiny oval leaves 10–35 centimetres (3.9–14 in) long and 5–15 centimetres (2.0–5.9 in) broad; leaf size is largest on young plants (occasionally to 45 centimetres / 18 inches long), much smaller on old trees (typically 10 centimetres / 3.9 inches long). The leaves develop inside a sheath at the apical meristem, which grows larger as the new leaf develops. When it is mature, it unfurls and the sheath drops off the plant. Inside the new leaf, another immature leaf is waiting to develop.

As with other members of the genus Ficus, the flowers require a particular species of fig wasp to pollinate it in a co-evolved relationship. Because of this relationship, the rubber plant does not produce highly colourful or fragrant flowers to attract other pollinators. The fruit is a small yellow-green oval fig 1 centimetre (0.39 in) long, barely edible; it will only contain viable seed where the relevant fig wasp species is present.

In part of India, people guide the roots of the tree over chasms to eventually form living bridges.

CULTIVATION AND USES

Ficus elastica is grown around the world as an ornamental plant, outside in frost-free climates from the tropical to the Mediterranean and inside in colder climates as a houseplant. Although it is grown in Hawaiʻi, the species of fig wasp required to allow it to spread naturally is not present there.

In cultivation, it prefers bright sunlight but not hot temperatures. It has a high tolerance for drought, but prefers humidity and thrives in wet, tropical conditions. When grown as an ornamental plant hybrids derived from Ficus elastica Robusta with broader, stiffer and more upright leaves are commonly used instead of the wild form. Many such forms exist, often with variegated leaves.

Most cultivated plants are produced by asexual propagation. This can be done by planting cuttings or air layering. The latter method requires the propagator to cut a slit in the plant's stem. The wound, which oozes with the plant's latex sap, is packed with rooting hormone and wrapped tightly with moist sphagnum moss. The whole structure is wrapped in plastic and left for a few months. When it is unwrapped, new roots have developed from the plant's auxiliary buds. The stem is severed and the new plant is potted on its own.

It can yield a milky white latex also known as sap, which has been used in some cases to make rubber, but it should not be confused with the Pará rubber tree, the main commercial source of latex for rubber making. This sap is also an irritant to the eyes and skin and can be fatal if taken internally.

POKOK RAMBONG_FICUS ELASTICA

RAMBONG_FICUS ELASTICA_MORACEAE