Ficus scassellatii
Pamp.
Crown-fruited fig
Description
A fig. It is a large strangler. It grows 30-40 m high. The bark is pale grey. The leaves are large and oval. They are 17 cm long by 7.5 cm wide. They are thick and dark glossy green. They are paler underneath. They taper slightly to the base. The edges are slightly wavy. The leaf stalk is 2 cm long. The figs are 2 cm across. They are warty. They occur singly in the leaf axils. The fruit are green tinged with purple.
Edible Uses
The fruit is eaten.
Distribution
A tropical plant. It grows in evergreen forest. It grows up to 1,800 m above sea level.
Where It Grows
Africa, Congo DR, East Africa, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, Southern Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe,
Cultivation
Fig trees have a unique form of fertilization, each species relying on a single, highly specialized species of wasp that is itself totaly dependant upon that fig species in order to breed. The trees produce three types of flower; male, a long-styled female and a short-styled female flower, often called the gall flower. All three types of flower are contained within the structure we usually think of as the fruit. The female fig wasp enters a fig and lays its eggs on the short styled female flowers while pollinating the long styled female flowers. Wingless male fig wasps emerge first, inseminate the emerging females and then bore exit tunnels out of the fig for the winged females. Females emerge, collect pollen from the male flowers and fly off in search of figs whose female flowers are receptive. In order to support a population of its pollinator, individuals of a Ficus spp. must flower asynchronously. A population must exceed a critical minimum size to ensure that at any time of the year at least some plants have overlap of emmission and reception of fig wasps. Without this temporal overlap the short-lived pollinator wasps will go locally extinct.
Other Uses
The bark is fibrous. Traditionally, the bark is used to make a cloth - it is first removed from the bole and large branches, then soaked in water for several days, dried in the shade and then beaten with a mallet to make it supple enough for use..
Notes
There are about 800-1000 Ficus species. They are mostly in the tropics. There are 120 Ficus species in tropical America.
Synonyms
References (3)
- Palgrave, K.C., 1996, Trees of Southern Africa. Struik Publishers. p 111 (As Ficus kirkii)
- Tredgold, M.H., 1986, Food Plants of Zimbabwe. Mambo Press. p 101 (As Ficus kirkii)
- www.figweb.org
