Ficus retusa is a species of evergreen woody plant in the fig genus, native to the Malay Archipelago and Malesia floristic region. The species name has been widely mis-applied to Ficus microcarpa.
Description
Ficus retusa is a rapidly growing, rounded, broad-headed, evergreen shrub or tree that can reach in height with an equal spread. The smooth, light grey trunk is quite striking, can grow to around in diameter, and it firmly supports the massively spreading canopy.
The tree has glabrous obovate leaves, usually longer than and spirally arranged. It has a gray to reddish bark dotted with small, horizontal flecks, called lenticels, that are used by woody plant species for supplementary gas exchange through the bark. The name is commonly used to refer to ornamental indoor plants (for example bonsai) widely cultivated in temperate regions, but such plants generally belong to another species, Ficus microcarpa. The two species can be distinguished from the length of the leaf blade (usually for F. retusa, and usually less than for F. microcarpa but rarely up to ).
F. retusa is commonly used as a beginner's bonsai.