Moo

Greets, folks. I'm relatively new to the bonsai game, but have been reading/surfing (and hopefully learning) ravenously from day one. I've got 11 trees and proto-trees going on my balcony and love watching them grow. Anyway, no need to bore you with additional newbie details, blah blah blah.

I'm writing because the Ficus nomenclature out there is a complete mess. Half the time, it seems like dealers make up their own names. My favorite so far has been "Ficus corkscrew." Right. I don't know what the proper latin conjugation for "corkscrew" would be, but I can assure you that is not correct! So, does the one with the golf ball braided in the trunks become F. golfball? F. golfballei? Anyway, as an entomologist, this sort of waffling drives me bananas. I'm used to a single name for every organism on this planet....barring hybrids, but there are rules for those too! Anyway, enough ranting.

What is the deal with the Ficus retusa names? I have seen at least 8-9 different colloquial names for this species (if I can trust the species ID). I understand that plant people like varieties, etc., but many of the variety names also seem interchangeable with identical images on different sites! There is a reason I want to know aside from being a insufferable pedant; I've been looking for F. retusa (or "microflora" "microflora" or "nitida" or "who knows what else") stock online and at nurseries. The only reliable source for anything other than F. benjamina is a plant that is commonly called "ginseng Ficus" on the `Net. It has the large bulbous roots that are often about 2/3 of the plant's height above ground. Are these things F. retusa (the staff at the nursery had no idea)? All the ones I've seen at the nursery seem to have no branches whatsoever. They possess a round clump of leaves at the top of a short trunk on top of those huge roots.

Given how popular Ficus seem to be as bonsai material, I expected to be able to find a guide that would unravel all these name mix-ups, but haven't run into it yet. If there is one, please point me to it. Also, if you know what this "ginseng ficus" will end up looking like, please give me a pic, link, or description. Maybe I'll just pick one up and see what it turns into. Thanks.

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