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[ID] required please
Posted: May 28th, 2012, 11:04 am
by Diane
Can anyone id this tree please?
Its been in a pot for a couple of years, has been trimmed to the point of nearly loosing all its leaves by finches in an aviary.

Now recovered nicely.
Has a somewhat drooping style, leaves are v shaped when viewed from the end, no discernible identifying smell when breaking a leaf. The trunk is fairly smooth with those little cream coloured areas being rough and raised.
P1010097 (480x640).jpg
P1010098 (480x640).jpg
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Re: ID required please
Posted: May 28th, 2012, 11:07 am
by squizzy
My guess is ficus allii? Spelling is not a strength of mine.
Cheers
Squizz
Re: ID required please
Posted: May 28th, 2012, 12:07 pm
by Hackimoto
Nearly right,, Ficus alii. It used to be marketed under the name Long John or Long Tom. could also be Ficus maclellandii
Re: ID required please
Posted: May 28th, 2012, 6:17 pm
by Diane
Hmmm, so does this mean I now have a tree worthy of being a bonsai?
Edit. maybe not, Ive just done a search and not found many references to it on here and on further googleing it seems like its a pot plant. Very hardy one though judging by what mine has been through. Ive just found out from the other half that he cut it in half...after I put it down the back for some r and r!

Re: [ID] required please
Posted: May 28th, 2012, 9:11 pm
by Hackimoto
Hi Di, All figs are very amenable to Bonsai practices but the smaller leafed ones are more suitable for scale and proportion reasons. This one would be very hard to reduce the leaf size.
Re: [ID] required please
Posted: May 28th, 2012, 10:32 pm
by chrisatrocky
some info.
Ficus maclellandii - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficus_maclellandii
Ficus maclellandii (common name Alii Fig or Banana-Leaf Fig) is a hybrid species of fig plant. It is an evergreen grown as a houseplant. The leaves are 8-13 cm.
also look at Ficus longifolia.
Re: [ID] required please
Posted: May 29th, 2012, 2:13 pm
by Diane
Hackimoto wrote:Hi Di, All figs are very amenable to Bonsai practices but the smaller leafed ones are more suitable for scale and proportion reasons. This one would be very hard to reduce the leaf size.

I thought as much when I was taking the pics.
Re: [ID] required please
Posted: May 30th, 2012, 9:48 pm
by squizzy
Hi Blue,
It may take some effort as a bonsai but I am keen to get some of these as a hedge at home.
The reason I know of this tree is we planted a lot of them when I worked in hong kong at the disneyland.
They made a great hedge there but I am not sure of the longevity or how out of control they may become.
Good luck with whatever this becomes
Squizz