Ficus americana

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West Indian laurel fig
Ficus clusiifolia.jpg
Ficus americana
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Moraceae
Genus: Ficus
Subgenus: F. subg. Urostigma
Species:
F. americana
Binomial name
Ficus americana
Aubl. 1775, conserved name
Synonyms

Ficus perforata L.
Ficus andicola Standl.
Ficus archeriStandl.
Ficus chaponensis Dugand
Ficus chiribiquetensisDugand
Ficus chiriquiana(Miq.) Miq.
Ficus chocoensisDugand
Ficus clusiifolia Schott
Ficus corpulenta Pittier
Ficus cundinamarcensisDugand
Ficus erraticaStandl.
Ficus estanislanaDugand
Ficus eugeniifolia(Liebm.) Hemsl.
Ficus fadyeniiMiq.
Ficus georgiiStandl. & L.O. Williams
Ficus gleasoniiStandl.
Ficus greiffianaDugand
Ficus grenadensis Warb.
Ficus guianensis Desv.
Ficus jacquiniifolia A.Rich.
Ficus lehmanniiStandl.
Ficus liebmanniana(Miq.) Miq.
Ficus machetanaDugand
Ficus maitinPittier
Ficus maroanaPittier
Ficus martiniiMiq.
Ficus mathewsii Miq.) Miq.
Ficus mensalisStandl.
Ficus metensisDugand
Ficus myriasyceaPittier
Ficus niceforoiDugand
Ficus oblanceolata Rusby
Ficus oerstediana(Miq.) Miq.
Ficus omphalophoraWarb.
Ficus ovalifoliaPittier
Ficus parkeriana(Miq.) Sandwith
Ficus popayanensisStandl.
Ficus rigidifoliaPittier
Ficus sintenisiiWarb.
Ficus soatensisDugand
Ficus soatensisDugand var. bogotensisDugand
Ficus spruceiStandl.
Ficus subapiculata(Miq.) Miq.
Ficus umbonigeraWarb.
Ficus vaupesanaDugand
Ficus wilsoniiWarb.
Pharmacosycea parkerianaMiq.
Urostigma eugeniaefoliumLiebm.
Urostigma eugeniifoliumLiebm.
Urostigma chiriquianumMiq.
Urostigma liebmannianumMiq.
Urostigma mathewsiiMiq.
Urostigma oerstedianumMiq.
Urostigma subapiculatumMiq. [2]

Contents


Uncertain names [3]
Ficus anacardiifolia Kunth & C.D. Bouché
Ficus arbutifoliaLink
Ficus consanguineaKunth & C.D. Bouché
Ficus fresnoensisDugand
Ficus periplocifoliaKunth & C.D. Bouché
Ficus splendensKunth & C.D. Bouché [2]

Ficus americana, commonly known as the West Indian laurel fig [4] or Jamaican cherry fig, [5] is a tree in the family Moraceae which is native to the Caribbean, Mexico in the north, through Central and South America south to southern Brazil. It is an introduced species in Florida, USA. The species is variable; the five recognised subspecies were previously placed in a large number of other species.

Ficus americana at Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden Ficus2.jpg
Ficus americana at Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden
Nature printed leaf, showing shape and venation Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften - Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe (1858) (20665373299), Ficus americana.jpg
Nature printed leaf, showing shape and venation

Description

Ficus americana is a shrub or tree which grows up to 30 m (100 ft) tall. [6]

Taxonomy

With about 750 species, Ficus (Moraceae) is one of the largest angiosperm genera (ranked the 31st largest by David Frodin of Chelsea Physic Garden). [7] Ficus americana is classified in the subgenus Urostigma (the strangler figs) and the section Americana. [2] Recent molecular phylogenies have shown that subgenus Urostigma is polyphyletic, but have strongly supported the validity of section Americana as a discrete group (although its exact relationship to section Galoglychia is unclear). [8]

Both Aublet and Linnaeus published descriptions of this species in 1775, basing them on an illustration of Charles Plumier's published posthumously in Plantarum americanarum, quas olim Carolus Plumierus detexit (Amsterdam, 1755–1760). There is uncertainty was to which version was published first; since the first-published description has priority, there was confusion as to which was the proper name for the species—F. americana Aubl. or F. perforata L. To resolve this, Cornelis Berg proposed in 2003 that Aublet's name be conserved over Linnaeus', since it was more widely used. [9] This proposal was accepted "after lengthy discussion". [10]

Five subspecies are currently recognised: F. americana Aubl. subsp. americana, F. americana Aubl. subsp. andicola (Standl.) C.C. Berg, F. americana Aubl. subsp. greiffiana (Dugand) C.C. Berg, F. americana Aubl. subsp. guianensis (Desv.) C.C. Berg, and F. americana Aubl. subsp. subapiculata (Miq.) C.C. Berg. [2]

Reproduction

Figs have an obligate mutualism with fig wasp (Agaonidae); figs are only pollinated by fig wasps, and fig wasps can only reproduce in fig flowers. Generally, each fig species depends on a single species of wasp for pollination. The wasps are similarly dependent on their fig species in order to reproduce.

Figs in section Americana of subgenus Urostigma are pollinated by wasps in the genus Pegoscapus . Pegoscapus clusiifolidis was described from Ficus clusiifolia [11] (a synonym of F. americana). Another study refers to P. insularis as the pollinator of F. perforata [12] (another synonym of F. americana). That study also found that P. insularis represented a cryptic species complex. [12]

Distribution

Ficus americana is found throughout the Caribbean, from the Bahamas south to Trinidad and Tobago. It occurs in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. [2] It has been introduced to Florida, USA and has escaped from cultivation in Miami-Dade County. [4]

Ecology

Figs are sometimes considered to be potential keystone species in communities of fruit-eating animals; their asynchronous fruiting patterns may cause them to be important fruit sources when other food sources are scarce. [13] At Tinigua National Park in Colombia Ficus americana was an important fruit producer during periods of fruit scarcity in two of three years. This led Colombian ecologist Pablo Stevens to consider it a potential keystone species at that site. [14]

The interaction between figs and fig wasps is especially well-known (see section on reproduction, above). In addition to their pollinators, Ficus species are exploited by a group of non-pollinating chalcidoid wasps whose larvae develop in its figs. Both pollinating and non-pollinating wasps serve as hosts for parasitoid wasps. [15] In addition to Pegoscapus pollinators, non-pollinating wasps belonging to the genera Heterandrium , Aepocerus and Idarnes were found in F. americana figs in Brazil. [11]

Related Research Articles

<i>Ficus</i> Genus of flowering plants in the mulberry family Moraceae

Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The common fig (F. carica) is a temperate species native to southwest Asia and the Mediterranean region, which has been widely cultivated from ancient times for its fruit, also referred to as figs. The fruit of most other species are also edible though they are usually of only local economic importance or eaten as bushfood. However, they are extremely important food resources for wildlife. Figs are also of considerable cultural importance throughout the tropics, both as objects of worship and for their many practical uses.

<i>Ficus macrophylla</i> Species of banyan tree

Ficus macrophylla, commonly known as the Moreton Bay fig or Australian banyan, is a large evergreen banyan tree of the Mulberry Family (Moraceae) native to eastern Australia, from the Wide Bay–Burnett region in the north to the Illawarra in New South Wales, as well as Lord Howe Island where the subspecies F. m. columnaris is a banyan form covering 2.5 acres or more of ground. Its common name is derived from Moreton Bay in Queensland, Australia. It is best known for its imposing buttress roots.

<i>Ficus rubiginosa</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Moraceaea native to eastern Australia

Ficus rubiginosa, the rusty fig or Port Jackson fig, is a species of flowering plant native to eastern Australia in the genus Ficus. Beginning as a seedling that grows on other plants (hemiepiphyte) or rocks (lithophyte), F. rubiginosa matures into a tree 30 m (100 ft) high and nearly as wide with a yellow-brown buttressed trunk. The leaves are oval and glossy green and measure from 4 to 19.3 cm long and 1.25 to 13.2 cm wide.

<i>Ficus citrifolia</i> Species of fig native to the Americas

Ficus citrifolia, also known as the shortleaf fig, giant bearded fig, Jagüey, wild banyantree and Wimba tree, is a species of banyan native to southern Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America south to Paraguay. It is distinguished from the closely related Florida strangler fig mainly by the finer veining in the leaves.

Ficus crassiuscula is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae, native to Central America and north-western parts of South America.

<i>Ficus aurea</i> Species of strangler fig

Ficus aurea, commonly known as the Florida strangler fig, golden fig, or higuerón, is a tree in the family Moraceae that is native to the U.S. state of Florida, the northern and western Caribbean, southern Mexico and Central America south to Panama. The specific epithet aurea was applied by English botanist Thomas Nuttall who described the species in 1846.

Pegoscapus is a genus of fig wasp native to the Americas. They range from Florida and Mexico in the north to Argentina in the south. Fig wasps have an obligate mutualism with the fig species they pollinate. Pegoscapus pollinates species in section Americana of the subgenus Urostigma.

Ficus maxima is a fig tree which is native to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and South America south to Paraguay. Figs belong to the family Moraceae. The specific epithet maxima was coined by Scottish botanist Philip Miller in 1768; Miller's name was applied to this species in the Flora of Jamaica, but it was later determined that Miller's description was actually of the species now known as Ficus aurea. To avoid confusion, Cornelis Berg proposed that the name should be conserved for this species. Berg's proposal was accepted in 2005.

<i>Ficus insipida</i> Species of fig tree from the Neotropics

Ficus insipida is a common tropical tree in the fig genus of the family Moraceae growing in forest habitats along rivers. It ranges from Mexico to northern South America.

<i>Ficus <span style="font-style:normal;">subg.</span> Pharmacosycea</i> Subgenus of flowering plants

Pharmacosycea is one of six subgenera currently recognised in the genus Ficus. It was proposed by E. J. H. Corner in 1967 to unite section Pharmacosycea with Oreosycea.

<i>Ficus pleurocarpa</i> Species of epiphyte

Ficus pleurocarpa, commonly known as the banana fig, karpe fig or gabi fig, is a fig that is endemic to the wet tropical rainforests of northeastern Queensland, Australia. It has characteristic ribbed orange and red cylindrical syconia. It begins life as a hemiepiphyte, later becoming a tree up to 25 m (82 ft) tall. F. pleurocarpa is one of the few figs known to be pollinated by more than one species of fig wasp.

<i>Ficus platypoda</i> Species of plant in the family Moraceae

Ficus platypoda, commonly known as the desert fig or rock fig, is a fig that is endemic to central and northern Australia. It is a lithophytic plant that grows on rocky outcrops, reaching 10 m in height.

<i>Ficus obliqua</i> A tree, the small-leaved fig

Ficus obliqua, commonly known as the small-leaved fig, is a tree in the family Moraceae, native to eastern Australia, New Guinea, eastern Indonesia to Sulawesi and islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Previously known for many years as Ficus eugenioides, it is a banyan of the genus Ficus, which contains around 750 species worldwide in warm climates, including the edible fig. Beginning life as a seedling, which grows on other plants (epiphyte) or on rocks (lithophyte), F. obliqua can grow to 60 m (200 ft) high and nearly as wide with a pale grey buttressed trunk, and glossy green leaves.

<i>Ficus septica</i> Species of fig

Ficus septica is a shrub or tree of the family Moraceae living at low altitudes from northeast India to north Australia (Queensland), and throughout Malesia. It lives on the edge of the vegetation, often in degraded environments. The seeds of this species are dispersed by numerous species, including fruit bats (Megachiroptera) when present.

<i>Ficus variegata <span style="font-style:normal;">(plant)</span></i> Species of fig tree

Ficus variegata is a well distributed species of tropical fig tree. It occurs in many parts of Asia, islands of the Pacific and as far south east as Australia. There is a large variety of local common names including common red stem fig, green fruited fig and variegated fig. A non strangling fig which may reach 30 metres in height. The tree is evergreen when young but becomes briefly deciduous as it grows older. In Australia the fruit are eaten by cassowaries and double-eyed fig parrots.

<i>Ficus subpisocarpa</i> Species of fig

Ficus subpisocarpa is a species of small deciduous tree native to Japan, China, Taiwan and southeast Asia to the Moluccas (Ceram). Two subspecies are recognised. Terrestrial or hemiepiphytic, it reaches a height of 7 m (23 ft). Ants predominantly of the genus Crematogaster have been recorded living in stem cavities. Ficus subpisocarpa is pollinated by Platyscapa ishiiana (Agaonidae).

<i>Ficus burtt-davyi</i> Species of fig from Southern Africa

Ficus burtt-davyi is a fig species endemic to Southern Africa, belonging to the Mulberry family of Moraceae. It grows in coastal and inland forests up to 1500m, from the vicinity of Mossel Bay in the Southern Cape to southern Mozambique - the forms growing on coastal dunes in the northern part of its range are salt tolerant and form low thickets on the margins of woodland. In the southern and eastern Cape forests the species becomes a strangler or liane, while when found on rocky outcrops and cliffs it usually develops into a rock-splitter.

<i>Ceratosolen</i> Genus of wasps

Ceratosolen is an Old World wasp genus in the family Agaonidae. They are pollinators of the monoecious fig subsections Sycomorus and Sycocarpus, and the section Neomorphe, all belonging to the subgenus Sycomorus. The genus is native to the Palearctic, Afrotropical, Indomalayan and Australasian realms.

<i>Sycophaga</i> Genus of wasps

Sycophaga is a mainly Afrotropical gall wasp genus of the superfamily Chalcidoidea that live on the section Sycomorus of the monoecious fig subgenus, Sycomorus, and one of several fig wasp genera to exploit its mutualism with Ceratosolen wasps.

<i>Ficus benguetensis</i> Species of fig

Ficus benguetensis is a shrub or tree of the family Moraceae living at low altitudes in the Ryu Kyu Islands, Taiwan and in the Philippines but not in Palawan. It lives as an understorey tree in humid forest environment and along streams and rivers.

References

  1. Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI); IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group (2019). "Ficus americana". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2019: e.T143276748A143296470. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-1.RLTS.T143276748A143296470.en . Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Berg, C.C. (2007). "Proposals for treating four species complexes in Ficus subgenus Urostigma section Americanae (Moraceae)". Blumea. 52 (2): 295–312. doi:10.3767/000651907X609034.
  3. Berg notes: "The quality of the types for [these] names ... is such that their identity remains uncertain."
  4. 1 2 "Ficus americana Aublet, Hist. Pl. Guiane. 952. 1775". Flora of North America. eFloras.org. Retrieved 2008-07-05.
  5. USDA, NRCS. "Ficus americana Aubl". The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA. Retrieved 2008-07-05.
  6. DeWolf, Gordon P., Jr. 1960. Ficus (Tourn.) L. In Lorin I. Nevling, Jr., Flora of Panama. Part IV. Fascicle II. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 47 (2):81–203
  7. Frodin, David G. (2004). "History and concepts of big plant genera". Taxon. 53 (3): 753–76. doi:10.2307/4135449. JSTOR   4135449.
  8. Rønsted, N.; Weiblen, G. D.; Clement, W. L.; Zerega, N. J. C.; Savolainen, V. (2008). "Reconstructing the phylogeny of figs (Ficus, Moraceae) to reveal the history of the fig pollination mutualism" (PDF). Symbiosis. 45 (1–3): 45–56.
  9. Berg, Cornelis C. (May 2003). "(1587–1590) Proposals to conserve the names Ficus citrifolia against F. caribaea, F. maxima with a conserved type, F. aurea against F. ciliolosa, and F. americana against F. perforata (Moraceae)". Taxon. 52 (2): 368–370. doi: 10.2307/3647421 . JSTOR   3647421.
  10. Brummitt, R.K. (November 2005). "Report of the Committee for Spermatophyta: 57". Taxon. 54 (4): 1093–1103. doi: 10.2307/25065499 . JSTOR   25065499.
  11. 1 2 Schiffler, Gustavo; Celso Oliviera Azevedo; Ricardo Kawada (2002). "Agaonidae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) associados a sicônios de Ficus clusiifolia (Moraceae) da restinga de Três Praias, Guarapari, Espírito Santo, Brasil" (PDF). Boletim do Museu de Biologia Mello Leitão. Nova Série. 14: 5–12.
  12. 1 2 Molbo, Drude; Carlos A. Machado; Jan G. Sevenster; Laurent Keller; Edward Allen Herre (2003). "Cryptic species of fig-pollinating wasps: Implications for the evolution of the fig–wasp mutualism, sex allocation, and precision of adaptation". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 100 (10): 5867–72. Bibcode:2003PNAS..100.5867M. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0930903100 . PMC   156293 . PMID   12714682.
  13. Terborgh, John (1986). "Keystone plant resources in the tropical forests". In Soulé, M.E. (ed.). Conservation Biology: The Science of Scarcity and Diversity. Sunderland, Massachusetts: Sinauer Associates. pp. 330–344. ISBN   978-0-87893-795-0.
  14. Stevenson, Pablo (2005). "Potential Keystone Plant Species for the Frugivore Community at Tinigua Park, Colombia". In J. Lawrence Dew; Jean Philippe Boubli (eds.). Tropical Fruits and Frugivores: The Search for Strong Interactors. Springer Netherlands. pp. 37–57. doi:10.1007/1-4020-3833-X. ISBN   978-1-4020-3833-4.
  15. Kjellberg, Finn; Emmanuelle Jousselin; Martine Hossaert-McKey; Jean-Yves Rasplus (2005). "Biology, ecology and evolution of fig-pollinating wasps (Chalcidoidea, Agaonidae)" (PDF). In A. Raman; Carl W. Schaefer; Toni M. Withers (eds.). Biology, Ecology, and Evolution of Gall-inducing Arthropods. Enfield (NH) USA, Plymouth, UK: Science publishers, Inc. pp. 539–572. ISBN   978-1-57808-262-9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2008-07-06.