What, botanically speaking, are ginseng ficus?

[Cable]

My local ag inspector called me looking for information. A local wholesale grower is importing grafted ginseng ficus and the inspector is involved because they want to ship to Canada. To do that, they need to know exactly what species/cultivar they are dealing with.

I don't deal with ginseng ficus but from my reading it would appear that they are most commonly the cultivar Ficus microcarpa 'ginseng' rootstock with regular Ficus microcarpa grafted on top.

This is supported by the North Carolina extension office, who also report that the plants are often mislabeled as Ficus retusa.

I'm worried, though, because the inspector couldn't find much on "ginseng" being a legitimate species and @Shibui said "there's no species called Ficus ginseng". But, that could still be a true statement if it is a cultivar and not a species.

Anyone have more specific information to support or disprove my current theory that 'ginseng' is the cultivar rootstock?

 

[Glaucus]

The only two ways to know is either to check the record or label of the original plants, where the person propagating it kept track of what it is. Or to ID the plants and recognize it exactly as a certain variety or cultivar, as well as ID if they are grafted.

So some guy has a batch of ficus plants, they can't tell the ag inspector what it is, the ig inspector doesn't know, so they contact you, and you ask people here to tell you what the plants are? How can we know?

 

[nuttiest]

ginseng should be considered a style with 2 species grafted, not A species. Will get you a photo later of the different species.

 

[jeremy_norbury]

I'm convinced the rootstock is not also Microcarpa.

Whenever someone comes along with the dead grafts and live rootstock growth - the leaves are huge in comparison.

 

[SWfloirda]

From what I understand they are a quick growing larger leaf microcarpa for the roots grafted with a smaller leaf microcarpa for the foliage.

 

[JackHammer]

Focus Microcarpa up top. I can't remember the bottom.

 

[leatherback]

As far as I know, the rootstock is seedling grown ficus microcarpa.
The top is often referred to as ficus microcarpa 'green island', which is a small leaf variety

Ginseng refers to the LOOKS of the tree (swollen roots) and has nothing to do with species or variety.
Ficus retusa is a very different species and is not commonly seen in bonsai trade, yet often mislabbeled. Retusa refers to the tip of the leave being retuse, which is clearly not the case with the ginseng to nor rootstock.

 

[nuttiest]

Here are 4 big ficus rootstock done different ways, and far right is a microcarpa for comparison.
If you take a cutting like #3 there, cut it back to no buds, then the energy in roots has no place to go except to super-fatten stem for grafting. it is lifted up and roots exposed.

 

[Shibui]

'Ginseng' common name probably refers to the swollen roots which resemble the roots of Panax species used in traditional Chinese medicine - (Korean ginseng - Panax ginseng). May also be a marketing ploy as ginseng root is revered and believed to have almost magical healing properties.

My info is also that the root stock and top are both Ficus microcarpa. It is common for widely spread species to have developed quite different looking plants in different parts of it's natural range. Consider all the variations of Juniper chinensis and Japanese maples so it is easily possible to have the cultivar used as root stock to be quite different from the cultivar used as scions.

As @Glaucus pointed out, this is all just heresay from unqualified individuals. I'm surprised a quarantine inspector would even consider listening to any such advice. If the original grower and/or the importer can't tell the inspectors what they are importing the inspector is well withing rights to refuse IMHO

 

[Glaucus]

I agree that what they have is probably Ficus microcarpa. I don't know a lot about ficus, but considering this plant has been in human cultivation for a long time, and considering the huge range of the species, China, india, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua, even parts of Australia, and I am probably forgetting some places, there is probably much more to this. The AG inspector may not care about the details, though.
And fig being agricultural significant food crop in the US can make it more sensitive to being restricted. No idea what the pests on Ficus microcarpa or adjacent species would be.
How many ficus house plants are there? All of them could be tracked back into the past to some human collecting an individual plant in the wild. Could be that plant growers say in Thailand have been growing the same genetic stock for decades, and for them it is just 'ficus'. But when preparing the phytosanitary certificate, they knew they had to put a species down on that label? They can just see from the leaves that their plants aren't Ficus benghalensis or Ficus carica, right?
But there is also Ficus benjamina?

 

[nuttiest]

Ficus benghalensis

The one I took apart was definitely benghalensis. It was topped with a common species, I forget the name but the leaves look like natal plum.

 

[Cable]

Thanks for the info. My main reason for asking was that sometimes there is a common pratice that is usually followed when it comes to grafting and I thought that might be the case here.

As to some of the other comments... you guys have no idea how common mislabeling, misrepresentation, and general lack of knowledge are in the nursery industry.

 

[Gabler]

Thanks for the info. My main reason for asking was that sometimes there is a common pratice that is usually followed when it comes to grafting and I thought that might be the case here.

As to some of the other comments... you guys have no idea how common mislabeling, misrepresentation, and general lack of knowledge are in the nursery industry.

On the contrary, most of us are aware, and we want the ag inspector to crack down on it. I don't know about you, but I hate it when I don't get what I paid for.