Ficus burtt-davyi

Last updated

Ficus burtt-davyi
Ficus burtt-davyi00.jpg
Ficus burtt-davyi growing on Afrocarpus falcatus
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Moraceae
Genus: Ficus
Subgenus: F. subg. Urostigma
Species:
F. burtt-davyi
Binomial name
Ficus burtt-davyi
Ficus burtt-davyi figs00.jpg
Ficus burtt-davyi01.jpg
Ficus burtt-davyi02.jpg

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. [1] [2]

Contents

In its epiphytic form this species starts its life in the forks of tree branches, where an accumulation of organic debris aids germination and initial development. It sends down long, thin roots to reach soil and water below. The roots thicken and grow in number with the passage of time, and can eventually enclose the supporting tree, strangling and killing it, leaving the fig to stand alone with no competition for resources. Growing without support the stems may reach 1m in diameter, and up to 20m in height, with a dense canopy and making an excellent shade tree. Bark is thin, smooth, grey and fibrous, and is much used by indigenous tribes as rough cordage. Branchlets are covered with minute, soft, erect hairs. Its tolerance of drought conditions makes it a favourite species among Bonsai growers. [3] Fruits are important as both food and in traditional medicine, and contain laxative substances, flavonoids, sugars, vitamins A and C, acids and enzymes. The latex is an allergen and serious eye irritant.

There are some 900 species of figs worldwide, [4] each employing the same remarkable manner of pollination where, with rare exceptions, each species of fig relying on one particular species of fig wasp from the family Agaonidae to carry out the fertilisation. [5] F. burtt-davyi is no exception to the rule and depends on the minute fig wasp Elisabethiella baijnathi Wiebes. to effect this. [6] Pollinator-specific volatile attractants are released through the ostioles of ripe figs and in the case of F. burtt-davyi attract only adult female Elisabethiella baijnathi. [7] Fig trees are keystone species in many tropical and subtropical ecosystems. Due to their steady production of fruit throughout the year, they feed a wide spectrum of animal life, and are repaid by animals' dispersing their seeds. Fruits are green with white spots when immature, yellowish when ripe, growing singly or in pairs from leaf axils, 5-10mm in diameter. [8]

Fourcade described the wood as "very light and soft, very weak, elastic, porous, with alternate concentric layers of soft and firm tissue; medullary rays fine and close; pores moderately large and numerous, irregularly distributed; colour white or grey, tinged with brown; makes rough boards, but decays rapidly if exposed to the weather." [9]

The species was named in honour of the botanist Joseph Burtt Davy, who worked in South Africa between 1903 and 1919.

Synonyms

Bibliography

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.

Agaonidae Family of wasps

The family Agaonidae is a group of pollinating and nonpollinating fig wasps. They spend their larval stage inside the fruits of figs. The pollinating wasps are the mutualistic partners of the fig trees. The nonpollinating fig wasps are parasitic. Extinct forms from the Eocene and Miocene are nearly identical to modern forms, suggesting that the niche has been stable over geologic time.

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

Ficus microcarpa, also known as Chinese banyan, Malayan banyan, Indian laurel, curtain fig, or gajumaru (ガジュマル), is a tree in the fig family Moraceae. It is native in a range from China through tropical Asia and the Caroline Islands to Australia. It is widely planted as a shade tree and frequently misidentified as F. retusa or as F. nitida.

Strangler fig Index of plants with the same common name

Strangler fig is the common name for a number of tropical and subtropical plant species, including some banyans and unrelated vines, including among many other species:

The Pondoland fig is a species of fig that is endemic to forests of coastal South Africa, where it is threatened by habitat loss.

<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.

<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.

Ficus verruculosa, the water fig, is a species of fig from sub-saharan Africa.

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

Ficus sur, with the common names Cape fig and broom cluster fig, is a widespread Afrotropical species of cauliflorous fig.

<i>Ficus sansibarica</i> Species of tree

The Ficus sansibarica, known as knobbly fig, is an African species of cauliflorous fig. It is named after Zanzibar, where Franz Stuhlmann discovered it in 1889. They often begin life as epiphytes, which assume a strangling habit as they develop. They regularly reach 10 m, but may grow up to 40 m tall as forest stranglers.

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

Ficus craterostoma, a species of strangler fig, is a fig shrub or tree of the Afrotropics that may grow up to 20 m tall. It is found in lowland tropical and swamp forests in the west, or in afromontane forests, including rocky situations, along Africa's eastern escarpments. The western and eastern populations may constitute separate species, as they occur at different altitudes where their ranges meet in central Africa, while they seem to have exclusive pollinating wasp species.

<i>Ficus salicifolia</i> Species or subspecies of Afrotropical fig

The Wonderboom is an evergreen fig species that ranges from the KwaZulu-Natal midlands northwards to tropical East Africa. It grows especially on outcrops, rocky hillsides and along cliffs fringing water courses and may rarely grow up to 10 m tall, and acquire a leafy spreading crown.

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

Ficus cordata, the Namaqua rock fig, or Namaqua fig is a species of fig that occurs in two disjunct populations in Africa, one in the arid southwest of the continent, and a second in the northern subtropics. In the south it is often the largest and most prominent tree, and is virtually restricted to cliff faces and rock outcrops, where it has a rock-splitting habit.

<i>Ficus abutilifolia</i> African fig species known as the large-leaved rock fig

Ficus abutilifolia, the large-leaved rock fig, is a species of African rock-splitting fig that occurs in two disjunct regions, one population north, and another south of the equator. The two populations are pollinated by different fig wasps, and are morphologically distinct. It is named for the similarity of its broadly ovate leaves to that of Abutilon. It is virtually restricted to cliff faces and rock outcrops, and is easily recognized from its large, glabrous leaves and smooth, pale bark.

<i>Ficus cyathistipula</i> Tropical African fig tree

''Ficus cyathistipula'', the African fig tree, is a species of fig that is native to the tropical forest regions of Africa. They may be small trees, shrubs or hemi-epiphytic lianas, and are widespread in the moist tropics, where they may be found in Afromontane or rainforest, often overhanging pools. The figs are reddish when ripe, and have thick, spongy walls that enable them to float on water. They are named for their cup-shaped (cyathus-) and persistent stipules (stipula).

<i>Ficus ilicina</i> Species of tree

The Laurel fig is a species of rock-splitting fig that is native to the semi-desert regions of southwestern Africa. It is only found on rocks, up to an altitude of 1,300 m (4,300 ft).

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

Ficus polita, the heart-leaved fig, is a species of fig that is native to forests of tropical Africa,

<i>Ficus exasperata</i> Species of flowering plant in the mulberry family Moraceae

Ficus exasperata, also called the sandpaper tree, forest sandpaper fig, white fig, or sandpaper leaf tree, is a deciduous, and dioecious species of plant in the mulberry family Moraceae, native to tropical Africa and southern Asia.

References

  1. ↑ CJB, CJB, DSIC, Cyrille Chatelain -. "CJB - African plant database - Detail". www.ville-ge.ch. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  2. ↑ http://www.nhm.ac.uk/resources/research-curation/projects/chalcidoids/pdf_X/ComptoNe990.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  3. ↑ "Dwarf South African Fig (Ficus Burtt-davyi "nana")". Flickr. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  4. ↑ "Search results — the Plant List".
  5. ↑ "Pollinator-specific volatile attractants released from figs of Ficus Burtt-Davyi (PDF Download Available)". ResearchGate. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  6. ↑ "Ficus burtt-davyi - FigWeb". www.figweb.org. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  7. ↑ "Pollinator-specific volatile attractants released from figs of Ficus Burtt-Davyi (PDF Download Available)". ResearchGate. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  8. ↑ "How_do_fig_wasps_pollinate_fig_trees". www.figweb.org. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  9. ↑ The Forests and Forest Flora of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope - Thomas R. Sim (1907)
  10. ↑ Unit, Morphometrics and Ident. "eFloras Results For Ficus burtt-davyi". apps.kew.org. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.