Deciduous fig | |
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Deciduous fig by the Pacific Highway, near the Manning River, Australia | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Rosales |
Family: | Moraceae |
Genus: | Ficus |
Species: | F. henneana |
Binomial name | |
Ficus henneana (Miq.) | |
Synonyms | |
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Ficus henneana is a strangler fig only occurring in Australia. Previously considered a variety of Ficus superba which occurs in China, Japan and parts of South East Asia. The cedar fig or deciduous fig grows in Australia from Milton, New South Wales to northern Queensland and the Northern Territory. The habitat is riverine, littoral or the drier forms of rainforest. The fruit is considered edible for humans, but it is not particularly palatable.
This Australian variety was named after Diedrich Henne, who collected this plant at Booby Island in the Torres Strait in 1861. In 1868 it was named Ficus henneana. Joseph Banks also collected this plant from the Booby Island on August 23, 1770. That specimen may have been from the same tree as Henne's specimen, (as the island is so small). Banks' plant was named in 1901 after the Endeavor's artist Sydney Parkinson, (Ficus parkinsonii). However, this name fell out of favour as Ficus henneana was already named in 1868. The specific epithet superba is from Latin referring to "outstanding" or "superb". The plant has had other scientific names, such as Ficus gracilipes, Ficus pritzelii and Urostigma superbum. The tree is semi deciduous, seldom losing all leaves. It may be seen almost bare of leaves in the month of October. In 2013, the species was reassigned to the original name of Ficus henneana, as described by Friedrich Miquel. [2] [3]
Ficus henneana can grow to 35 metres (115 ft) in height in the best sites, or a smaller spreading tree on exposed rocky slopes. Like other strangler figs it is a hemi-epiphyte.
The bark is grey or reddish brown. Rough with scales, cracks and vertical bumps. The base of the tree is buttressed, but not as prominently as in the Moreton Bay fig. White sap appears when a branch is cut.
Leaves are alternate, simple and entire, 8 to 12 centimetres (3.1 to 4.7 in) long and 2 to 5 centimetres (0.79 to 1.97 in) wide. Oval or elliptical in shape. Mostly with a short blunt tip. Rounded at the base or heart shaped. This tree can be identified in New South Wales by the long leaf stem 2 to 5 cm (0.79 to 1.97 in) long. The leaf midrib is sunken on the upper surface and raised below.
Flowers form within a translucent receptacle, a syconium. Flowers pollinated by fig wasps within the fig. The mature fig changes to a purplish colour with pink dots, globular in shape, 25 millimetres (0.98 in) in diameter. Figs ripe from January to July, but sometimes appearing mature in different times of the year.
The figs are eaten by a large variety of birds including the Australasian figbird, Coxen's fig parrot, green catbird, Lewin's honeyeater, regent bowerbird, rose crowned fruit dove, topknot pigeon, wompoo fruit dove and yellow-eyed cuckoo-shrike. Regeneration is easy from fresh seed and cuttings. The marcotting technique of propagation is suited to Ficus henneana. [4]
Suited to parks and large gardens as an ornamental tree
A banyan, also spelled "banian", is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adventitious prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as an epiphyte, i.e. a plant that grows on another plant, when its seed germinates in a crack or crevice of a host tree or edifice. "Banyan" often specifically denotes Ficus benghalensis, which is the national tree of India, though the name has also been generalized to denominate all figs that share a common life cycle and used systematically in taxonomy to denominate the subgenus Urostigma.
Ficus macrophylla, commonly known as the Moreton Bay fig or Australian banyan, is a large evergreen banyan tree of the 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. Its common name is derived from Moreton Bay in Queensland, Australia. It is best known for its imposing buttress roots.
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.
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.
Syzygium smithii is a summer-flowering, winter-fruiting evergreen tree, native to Australia and belonging to the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It shares the common name "lilly pilly" with several other plants.It is planted as shrubs or hedgerows, and features: rough, woody bark; cream and green smooth, waxy leaves; flushes of pink new growth; and white to maroon edible berries. Unpruned, it will grow about 3–5 m (9.8–16.4 ft) tall in the garden.
Ficus crassiuscula is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae, native to Central America and north-western parts of South America.
Ficus coronata, commonly known as the sandpaper fig or creek sandpaper fig, is a species of fig tree, native to Australia. It is found along the east coast from Mackay in Central Queensland, through New South Wales and just into Victoria near Mallacoota. It grows along river banks and gullies in rainforest and open forest. Its common name is derived from its rough sandpapery leaves, which it shares with the other sandpaper figs.
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 fraseri, the white sandpaper fig or shiny sandpaper fig, is one of several fig species commonly known as sandpaper figs. It is native to New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory in Australia and to New Caledonia and Vanuatu. Other common names are "figwood" and "watery fig".
Gmelina leichhardtii, the white beech, is a tree of eastern Australia. Scattered individuals or small groups of trees naturally occur from the Illawarra district of New South Wales to near Proserpine in tropical Queensland. The white beech or grey teak is a fast-growing tree, growing on volcanic and alluvial soils in areas of moderate to high rainfall. It also grows on poorer sedimentary soils in fire free areas. White beech may occasionally be seen in Australian rainforests, though their status is considered "uncommon". Unlike the Australian red cedar, the white beech has not recovered particularly well after logging in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Syzygium moorei is a rare sub tropical rainforest tree, growing on volcanic soils in the Mount Warning area of north east New South Wales and south east Queensland, Australia. Common names include coolamon, watermelon tree, durobby and robby; it is also called "rose apple" but this can refer to many species of Syzygium.
Ehretia acuminata is a deciduous tree found in Japan, China, Bhutan, Nepal, Laos, Vietnam, New Guinea and Australia. Fossil evidence suggests an ancient Laurasian origin. This group of plants spread to Australia and South America via Africa, when these continents were still joined.
Streblus brunonianus, known as the whalebone tree, is a small tree in the fig family. Commonly seen in a variety different types of rainforest, particularly by streams.
Ficus virens var. sublanceolata is a banyan or strangler fig. It grows alongside the related white fig in the northern part of its range. They differ with narrower leaves, almost lanceolate in shape. Common names in Australia include white fig, sour fig, deciduous fig and banyan. A large example can be seen north of Murwillumbah beside the old Pacific Highway, not far from the state border with Queensland.
Ficus superba, also known as sea fig or deciduous fig, is a hemiepiphytic tree of genus Ficus. It is one of the species known as banyans or "strangler figs" because of its potential to grow as a hemi-epiphyte and eventually progress to the strangling habit of species in this subgenus. It is, however, not an obligate hemi-epiphyte and can be found growing as single stemmed trees in forests. It is found in Japan, Taiwan, Australia, and China, as well as various parts of Southeast Asia, such as Thailand, Vietnam, Java, Kalimantan, the Lesser Sunda Islands, Moluccas, Seram Island, and Peninsular Malaysia.
Diedrich Henne was a German-born botanist and plant collector. He emigrated to Australia and was employed as an assistant to the colonial botanist Ferdinand von Mueller at the Melbourne Herbarium.
Ficus altissima, commonly known as the council tree and lofty fig, is a species of flowering plant, a fig tree in the family Moraceae. It is a large, stately evergreen hemiepiphyte and is native to southeastern Asia.
Ficus coronulata, commonly known as the peach-leaf fig, and in the Northern Territory as river fig and crown fig, is one of several fig species commonly known as sandpaper figs. It is native to Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Quintinia verdonii, commonly known as the grey possumwood, is a tree of eastern Australia. It is mostly found in rainforests at high altitude. The range of natural distribution is between the Barrington Tops region of New South Wales and the Blackall Range in the state of Queensland.
Site of Ficus superba var. henneana tree is a heritage-listed individual tree at 3-4 Fernleigh Gardens, Rose Bay in the Municipality of Woollahra local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was planted during 1827. It is also known as Cedar fig, superb fig and Port Hacking fig; formerly part of Fernleigh Castle; The Ferns grounds. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. The identification of the tree is confirmed as the White Fig, not indigenous to Sydney.