Reliable Physical Parameters for Determining Fruit/Seed Maturity Timing of Ficus semicordata Buch. in Kumaun Region of Central Himalaya JYOTSNA, ASHISH TEWARI*, SHRUTI SHAH and KRISHNA KUMAR TAMTA Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, D. S. B. Campus Kumaun University Nainital. Abstract Wild edible plants play an important role as food supplements during scarcity for local inhabitants. Ficus semicordata is commonly known as drooping fig. Plant parts are used for medicinal purposes. It is a common agroforestry tree in the Himalayan region growing from 750 to 1500 m elevation. The present study was carried out to assess the exact time of seed and fruit maturation and germination of F. semicordata in Nainital district of Kumaun Himalaya across 3 sites during two consecutive years 2017 and 2018. Fruit of F. semicordata were collected from the marked trees from all the sites till the availability of the fruits. Across all the sites the mean fruit size varied between 190.24 ± 0.46 and 395.14 ±3.56 mm² in Yr-1 and 135.56 ±3.69 to 516.86 ±1.26 mm² in Yr-2. Across both the sites the colour change from green to pinkish brown appears as one of the indicator of maturity. In addition to the colour fruit moisture content between 50.25±0.58% and 62.73±2.30% coincided with maximum germination (48.0±0.06% and 85± 4.61%). Current World Environment www.cwejournal.org ISSN: 0973-4929, Vol. 15, No. (2) 2020, Pg. 176-185 CONTACT Ashish Tewari atewari69@gmail.com Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, D. S. B. Campus Kumaun University Nainital. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Enviro Research Publishers. This is an Open Access article licensed under a Creative Commons license: Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY). Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.15.2.04 Article History Received: 03 March 2020 Accepted: 23 May 2020 Keywords Ficus; Germination; Maturity; Seed; Wild Edible. Introduction Ficus semicordata -Ham. ex Sm. (syn. Ficus cunia Buch.-Ham. ex Roxb.) is a multipurpose tree species belonging to the family Moraceae commonly known as Drooping fig, which is a small to medium sized tree up to 15 m tall, with an uneven crown. The leaf blade is frequently elliptic to lance-shaped and leaf margin is entire or coarsely toothed. 1 F. semicordata usually evergreen tree. Sometimes leafless in the dry season. 2 Flowering occurs between in the month of May-June. It produced the main seed crop in the beginning of rainy season. 3 It occurs at the 750-1500 m elevation range in Himalayan region. 4 The leafless fruit-bearing branches develop at the base of the trunk and often become stolon like, trailing across the forest floor. 5 Young fruits and whole parts of the tree are used as a medicine. It is a potential fodder for goat and cattle. 1 The leaves are also used for polishing wood, ropes are made in by the fibre of bark and species is important for agroforestry. 6,