Hi everyone, I started this Ficus plant from cutting few months ago. I thought that it is variety of Ficus elastica with longer and less wide leaves. And it looks a lot like some other species from Asia that have similar leaves and leaf nervature as F.elastica But, because i dont have enough experience with different Ficus species, as they are very rare here, i am asking you to help me with this one.

Thanx, Alex

I don't have experience with ficus, but yours it is like the Ficus macrophylla that i see in the spanish gardens.

The last guess was pretty close. I believe your ficus is a species called Ficus watkinsiana, its a form of Ficus macrophylla from Australia.

I've got F. elastica and F. macrophylla growing side by side, and also F. watkinsiana nearby. I would say your fig is a form of F. elastica. It does not look like either macrophylla or watkinsiana to me. Elastica has a lot of variation between different forms. As you say, it might be something completely different, but if the original cutting came from a cultivated plant the chances are that it is a more common species, and elastica is about the most common there is. The stem on RHS of pot looks classic elastica to me, and quite different form macrophylla or watkinsiana. What is the ficus in the pot behind?

To me it looks like F.elastica just with different leaf shape. Again, plant have the same leaf nervation as elastica. Behind are rooted cuttings of F.benghalensis, F.cyathistipula, and F.elastica.

Alex

_{Well, when it comes to ficus it is always tough, but I still say watkinsiana. I have watkinsiana and that is very close, I have just not seen elastica with a leaf like that.}

_Gary

Gary,

In the 1950s, this plant had a very different look and lots of people landscaped with F. elastica with narrow leaves (in SoCal, anyway. I grew up in Bellflower)....I'll look in my archives to find a photo of one. I would actually like to have one myself!

_{Well, when it comes to ficus it is always tough, but I still say watkinsiana. I have watkinsiana and that is very close, I have just not seen elastica with a leaf like that.}

_Gary

Gary, any chance you could post a picture of your watkinsiana foliage? It is a variable species too, possibly the populations I am familiar with in the NE NSW rainforests are not the dominant leaf form type.

A couple years back I was walking through subtropical rainforest under some mature watkinsiana with ripe fruit about ankle deep. I didn´t collect any, I was proud of myself. Maybe the collector disease is curable after all....