udumbara :

Morphology:

Goolar is an attractive fig tree with a crooked trumk and a spreading crown.

Unlike the banyan, it has no aerial roots. The most distinctive aspect of this tree is the red, furry figs in short clusters, which grow directly out of the trunk of the tree. Those looking for the flower of goolar should know that the fig is actually a compartment carrying hundreds of flowers

Leaves: The leaves are dark green, 6-10 cm long, glabrous; receptacles small subglobose or piriform,

in large clusters from old nodes of main trunk

Fruits: The fruits receptacles are 3-6 cm in diameter, pyriform, in large clusters,

arising from main trunk or large branches.

The fruits resemble the figs and are green when raw, turning orange, dull reddish or dark crimson on ripening.

The fruit of Ficus Racemosa Linn is 3/4inch to 2 inches long, circular and grows directly on the trunk

Seeds: The seeds are tiny, innumerable and grain-like.

Outer surface of the bark consists of easily removable translucent flakes grayish to rusty brown,

uniformly hard and non-brittle

Bark: Bark is reddish grey or grayish green, soft surface, uneven and often cracked, 0.5-1.8 cm thick,

on rubbing white papery flakes come out from the outer surface, inner surface light brown, fracture fibrous,

taste mucilaginous without any characteristic odour. Unlike the banyan, it has no aerial roots.

Those looking for the flower of goolar should know that the fig is actually a compartment carrying hundreds of flowers.

Texture is homogeneously leathery

Roots: The roots of F.racemosa are long, brownish in colour.

It’s having characteristic odour and slightly bitter in taste

Roots are irregular in shape

Histology:

Transverse section of bark shows cork, 3-6 layers of thin-walled cells filled with brownish content, cork cambium single layered,
secondary cortex 6-12 layered, composed of thin-walled rectangular cells arranged regularly,
a number of secondary cortex cells contain starch grains and some contain rhomboidal crystals of calcium oxalate,
most of the cells filled with chloroplast giving green appearance, cortex a fairly wide zone composed of circular to oblong, thin-walled cells, containing orange-brown content, most of the cells filled with simple and compound starch grains, a number of cells also contain cubical and rhomboidal crystals of calcium oxalate,
some cortical cells get lignified with pitted walls found scattered singly or in large groups throughout cortical region,
secondary phloem a very wide zone composed of parenchyma with patches of sieve tubes, companion cells by medullary rays, phloem parenchyma circular to oval and thin-walled, phloem fibres much elongated, lignified, very heavily thickened and possess a very narrow lumen: medullary rays uni to pentaseriate widen towards peripheral region , a number of ray cells also get lignified and show pitted wall as described above,
laticiferous cells also found in phloem region similar to parenchyma but filled with small granular masses, starch grains and rhomboidal crystals of calcium oxalate also found in most of phloem parenchyma and ray cells, cambium, when present,
2-3 layered, of tangentially elongated thin-walled cells.

Kotakkal Ayurveda - Mother land of modern ayurveda

udumbara - Ficus racemosa Linn. Ficus glomerata - Moraceae

udumbara :

Morphology:

Histology:

Medicinal Plants