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Ficus sycomorus gnaphalocarpa (Miq.) C.C. Berg

 

(Life; Embryophyta (plants); Angiospermae (flowering plants); Eudicotyledons; Order: Rosales; Family: Moraceae; Genus: Ficus; Subgenus: Sycomorus; Section: Sycomorus)


Namibia, Tsauchab river

 

 

Ficus_sycomorus_gnaphlocarpa_ENC1606

Ficus sycomorus gnaphlocarpa

Ficus sycomorus gnaphlocarpa


Ivory Coast

 
Ficus_sycomorus Ficus_sycomorus

Ficus_sycomorus

Ficus_sycomorus

 

 

Ficus_sycomorus


Distribution

Distribution_of_Ficus_sycomorus_gnaphalocarpa

From South Africa and Namibia to Ethiopia and west to Senegal.

Biology

Pollinators:

Ceratosolen arabicus Mayr

 

Ceratosolen galili Wiebes is a cuckoo.

 

Non-pollinating fig wasps:

Apocrypta longitarsus Mayr, 1906

 

Sycophaga gigas (Mayr, 1906)

 

Sycophaga gracilis (Wiebes,1967)

 

Sycophaga sycomori (Linnaeus,1758)

 

Sycophaga valentinae Grandi,1952

 

Eukoebelea sycomori Wiebes, 1967

 

Sycoscapteridea bambeyi (Risbec, 1951)

 

Ficomila gambiensis (Risbec, 1955)

 

Syceurytoma ficus Bouček, 1981 

 

Sycophila naso Bouček, 1981

Habitat

In woodland, sometimes near streams, but more often in hilly country or sometimes open grassland.

Frugivores

Birds, bats and monkeys feed on the ripe figs facilitating seed dispersal.

 

Green pigeon in Ficus sycomorus Duncan Butchart

African Green Pigeon feeding on figs of Ficus sycomorus in South Africa (Photograph © Duncan Butchart).

Insects

The larval stages of a variety of insects feed on the leaves or figs of Ficus sycomorus including caterpillars of butterflies and moths, some of which have developed remarkable strategies to overcome the sticky latex contained in the leaves. Other insect larvae bore into the branches feeding on the wood or suck sap from leaves or figs.

Latex sabotage by Asota speciosa

Asota speciosa (latex sabotage by the Speciose Tiger moth caterpillar)

Myrina dermaptera (Lesser fig-tree bue, Scarce fig-tree blue)

Myrina dermaptera (Lesser fig-tree blue, Scarce fig-tree blue)

Myrina silenus (Common fig-tree blue)

Myrina silenus (Common fig-tree blue)

Fig_tree_borer

Beetle larvae of the Fig tree borer beetle Phyrneta spinator (Coleoptera) bore into the branches and trunks often targeting water stressed, damaged or older trees

Leaf Hopper bugs Hilda patruelis (Hemiptera) suck the sap  from figs and are tended for honeydew by pugnaceous ants Anoplolepis custodiens or Pheidole megacephala. By patrolling figs with bugs the ants reduce the impact of parasitoid fig wasps (which oviposit through the fig wall) on pollinator larvae and hence increase the reproductive fitness of the tree.

Description

(after C.C. Berg in Berg & Wiebes, 1992)              

Biological form

Tree up to 15 m tall, terrestrial

Leaves

shape & colour

elliptic to subcordiform, chartaceous, apex rounded, base cordate to rounded, both surfaces scabrous to puberulous

 

size

14x10 cm

 

lateral veins

4-7 pairs, basal pair branched, reaching the margin at or below the middle of the lamina

 

petiole

0.5-3 cm long, puberulous

Stipules

0.5-1 cm long, (sub)puberulous, caducous

Figs

position

on 20 cm long branchlets on the branches (ssp. sycomorus) or in the leaf axils (ssp. gnaphalocarpa)

 

shape

globose to subpyriform, Æ 5 cm (fresh), (sub)puberulous

 

peduncle

0.3-0.6 cm long

 

basal bracts

2.5-3 mm long

References

Berg, C.C. 1986. The Ficus species (Moraceae) of Madagascar and the Comore Islands. Bulletin du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle d’Histoire Naturelle. Paris (4), 8: 17-55.

Berg, C.C. 1988. New taxa and combinations in Ficus (Moraceae) in Africa. Kew Bulletin 43: 77- 97.

Berg, C.C. 1989. Moraceae. In: R.M. Polhill (ed.) Flora of Tropical East Africa. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam.

Berg, C.C. 1990. Distribution of African taxa of Ficus (Moraccae). [Proc. 12th AETFAT]. Mitt. inst. Allg. Bot. Hamburg 23: 401-405.

Berg, C.C. 1990. Annotated check-list of the Ficus species of the African floristic region, with special reference and a key to the taxa of southern Africa. Kirkia, 13: 253-291.

Berg, C.C. 1991. Moraceae. In: E. Launert & G.Y. Pope (eds) Flora Zambesiaca 9, 6. Natural History Museum, London.

Berg, C.C. & Hijman, M.E.E. 1989. Chapter 11. Ficus. Flora of Tropical East Africa (ed. R.M. Polhill). 43-86. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam.

Berg, C.C., Hijman, M.E.E. & Weerdenburg, J.C.A. 1984. Moracées (incl. Cécropiacées). Flore du Gabon 26: 1276.

Berg, C.C., Hijman, M.E.E. & Weerdenburg, J.C.A. 1985. Moracées (incl. Cécropiacées). Flore du Cameroun 28: 1298.

Berg, C.C. & Wiebes, J.T. 1992. African fig trees and fig wasps. Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen. Amsterdam, 1-298 pp.

Burrows, J. & Burrows, S. 2003. Figs of southern & south-central Africa. Umdaus Press, Hatfield. 379 pp.

Credits

Photographs and distribution maps © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa) or © Jean-Yves Rasplus (INRA). Insect images © Hamish Robertson (Iziko Museums of South Africa). Butterfly images © Steve Woodhall.

Ficus tiliifolia Baker

Web authors Simon van Noort (Iziko South African Museum)

and Jean-Yves Rasplus (INRA, France)

 

Citation: van Noort, S. & Rasplus, JY. 2024. Figweb: figs and fig wasps of the world. URL: www.figweb.org(Accessed on <day-month-year>).

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