DESKTOP 952 - FICUS TREE

The Rubber fig (Ficus elastica), also called the rubber bush, rubber tree, rubber plant, or Indian rubber bush, is a species of plant in the fig genus, native to northeast India, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, China (Yunnan), Malaysia, and Indonesia.

It is a large tree in the banyan group of figs, growing to 30–40 metres (rarely up to 60 metres) tall, with a stout trunk up to 2 metres in 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 long and 5–15 centimetres broad; leaf size is largest on young plants (occasionally to 45 centimetres), much smaller on old trees (typically 10 centimetres). 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.

Here it is seen growing in the extensive Parklands surrounding the city of Adelaide in Australia.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Trees & Bushes meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.