24th Feb.-
Today we will look at Ficus & Fig trees again inc. Berries with a focus
Thoughts: "In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous." -from: Aristotle. Seeing the Creator in Creation is a theme from many great Masters.
One can take shelter in the peace that mother nature showers - quietly on us.
Just sharing the experience....
TREES CONNECT CONTINENTS-CULTURE &RELIGION TOO-
I have been sharing this nature watch & study with friends for some time on this Blog. The idea was also to promote Awareness in this year 2011 - the year of Forests and Eco protection as declared by the UNO, which is a real need.
As one friend so very aptly wrote to me quote:
"Greening is the only way forward".
But, sadly enough in a 1. 3 B population in India and esp in Cities , very few today know of them or how protect them.
Man needs Trees and Trees also need Man to care for them; Although, I personally believe that Trees do more good to Mankind-than the reverse.
Trying now a sharper focus on the 3 very popular trees in Indian prakruti and samskruti- viz. the Peepul, Banyan & Oudamber.
They all come in the Category of :FICUS & FIGS
1. Ashwattha or Sacred Fig tree (Peepul (Pipal) , Bodhi, Bo, or Po, (Ficus religiosa)
2. Banyan Fig (Ficus benghalensis) and
3. Oudamber or Gular (Ficus racemosa) sometimes known as Ficus glomerata.
SOURCES:
Ficus is a genus of about 800 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemi-epiphytes in the family Moraceae. In the tropics, the Ficus is the most species-rich plant genus in a particular forest. Also, in Asia alone, as many as 70 or more species have been found to co-exist by study reports.
FIGS -from sources.
Figs category seem to have wide variety –
I was familiar with only the Anjeer figs and that too esp in ice-creams, till I started this marvellous voyage of discovery into Trees and plants. Figs are of a wider variety like the Common Fig. The common names of Oudamber Figs is cluster fig, cluster tree, country fig, redwood fig, Indian fig, crattock and ju guo rong. are seen all across India and revered.
TREES -CONNECT RELIGIONS & CONTINENTS.
BAKULA in Sanskrit (Mimusops)- medicinal bark , berries-
Oudamber Figs
Sacred Fig-Pipal
The Ashwattha (Pipal) is recorded in Hindu Shastra and covered in my earlier posts.
Ber fruit
The oldest living Pipal trees of known planting date is a Ficus regiliosa tree known as the Sri Maha Bodhi planted in the temple at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka by King Tissa in 288 BC. Thus links to Buddhism
The Common Fig tree (Ficus carica) is the first plant cited in the Bible. In Genesis 3:7 is described how Adam and Eva cover themselves with fig leaves when they discover that they are naked.
The fig fruit is also included in the list of food found in the Promised Land, according to the Thorah (Deut. 8). (They are wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, dates (representing the honey).
In the deserts of Middle East Dates & Figs have been survival food and are available and distributed to all-
FIG CHARACTERISTICS
There are three vegetative traits unique to figs.
a.All figs possess a white to yellowish sap (latex), some in copious quantities.
b.The twig has paired stipules or a circular stipule scar if the stipules have fallen off.
c.the lateral veins at the base of the leaf are steep, that is they form a tighter angle with the midrib than the other lateral veins, a feature referred to as a "tri-veined".
Many other kinds of figs and berries are often mixed in groups and amost allare edibloe or used for medicinal value and eaten by birds, primates & bats and few others.
DATA ON FIGS
Figs comprise a large genus, Ficus, of deciduous and evergreen tropical and subtropical trees, shrubs, and vines belonging to the mulberry family, Moraceae
Figs and Ficus plants are two terms for the same types of plants.
The term ficus is used to refer to fig trees.
The distinction between figs and ficus trees is used for classification.
Ficus is the scientific name of a genus of plants, which contains all of the species of figs within it.
The classification names help distinguish between individual species and larger groups of related plants and organisms. Studies indicate about such 800 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemi-epiphytes in the family Moraceae.
Collectively known as Figs, they of the tropical origin and few in the warm temperate zone. The so-called Common Fig (F. carica) is a temperate species from the Middle East and southern Europe, which has been widely cultivated from ancient times for its fruit, also referred to as figs. The fruit of most other species are also edible though they are usually of only local economic importance or eaten as bush food. However, they are extremely important food resources for wildlife.
UNQUOTE
CULTURAL VALUE OF FIGS
Figs have religious and cultural importance in worship and for their many practical and medicinal uses.
DATING THE FICUS GENUS --
There is no clear evidence from older fossils of Ficus trees, but a molecular clock study and carbon dating process estimates ( indicates) that Ficus is a very ancient genus; maybe even millions of years old. Readers choice to decide.
However to me, it is without doubt an Ancient Tree genus and about 800 kinds are recorded over the world with so many legends and folk lore even attached.
Tree Fossils in Mohenjadaro excavations also confirm the Ficus is an old genus- possibly from a previous era. But hard to place.Obviously Ficus genus trees grew before Continents came apart -----thus:
TREES CONNECT CONTINENTS-PEOPLE, CULTURE &RELIGION TOO.
Something to think about in the midst of all strife and turmoil & respect Trees.
Rgds
TR
Love is essentially something, very much of a subjective experience, that it refuses to be fully and efficiently handled by language.
