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Figs on cauliflorous infructescences. Copyright CSIRO

Figs, side views and longitudinal section. Copyright W. T. Cooper

Female flowers. Copyright CSIRO

Cotyledon and 1st leaf stage, epigeal germination. Copyright CSIRO

10th leaf stage. Copyright CSIRO

Scale bar 10mm. Copyright CSIRO
Ficus racemosa
Family
Moraceae
Botanical Name
Ficus racemosa L.
Linnaeus, C. von (1753) Species Plantarum 2: 1060. Type: Habitat in India..
Synonyms
Ficus racemosa L. var. racemosa, Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 73: 323(1946), Type: ?. Ficus vesca Miq., Journal de Botanique Neerlandaise 1: 243(1862), Type: Nova Hollandia borealis, Arnhemsland, in regione Fitzmaurice-river, Oct. 1855: FERD MUELLER, secus Fitzroy-river: THOZET. Ficus semicostata F.M.Bailey, Queensland Agricultural Journal 26: 316(1911), Type: Queensland, Mr. Walter Hill; described from trees planted by him in Brisbane Botanic Gardens. Ficus racemosa var. vesca (Miq.) M.F.Barrett, Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 73: 323(1946), Type: ?. Ficus glomerata Roxb., Plants of the Coast of Coromandel 2: 13(1799), Type: India, It is a large tree, generally found in and about villages, and or the banks of rivers and water-courses, where the soil is rich and moist.
Common name
Fig, Cluster; Cluster Tree; Figwood; Fig Tree; Cluster Fig
Stem
Not a strangling fig. Deciduous; leafless for a period in August or September. Exudate turns brown or brownish on exposure.
Leaves
Stipules shortly hairy, about 0.5-2 cm long, semi-persistent, remaining attached to the twig after each leaf expands. Petioles and twigs produce a milky exudate. Leaf blades about 6-20 x 4-9 cm. Oil dots sometimes visible with a lens.
Flowers
Tepals glabrous, lobed or lacinate-denticulate in the female flowers, entire in the male. Male flowers produced around the ostiole. Bracts at the base of the fig, three, persistent in ripe fruits. Lateral bracts not present on the outside of the fig body.
Fruit
Figs produced on special shoots from the trunk and main branches. Figs pedunculate, globular or depressed pyriform, about 30-35 x 35-40 mm. Orifice closed by interlocking and inflexed bracts.
Seedlings
Cotyledons orbicular, about 2 mm diam. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade ovate, apex acute, base obtuse, margin smooth or crenate, upper surface glabrous; oil dots very small, difficult to see with a lens; petiole with a few scattered hairs; stipules sheathing the terminal bud, about 5-10 mm long, persistent.
Distribution and Ecology
Occurs in WA, NT, CYP, NEQ and southwards as far as coastal central Queensland. Altitudinal range from sea level to 500 m. Grows in dry rain forest, beach forest and gallery forest sometimes in areas which are otherwise quite dry and not conducive to rain forest development. Also occurs in SE Asia and Malesia.
Natural History
Fruit eaten by several species of birds. Cooper & Cooper (1994).
Food plant for the larval stages of the Two-brand Crow Butterfly. Common & Waterhouse (1981).
This species may have medicinal properties. (http://squid2.laughingsquid.net/hosts/herbweb.com /herbage/A11274.htm)
This tree is an important food source for a variety of birds and animals. Feral pigs are particularly fond of the fruit of this species and will pull branches down to obtain the fruits. Keen pig shooters will nearly always be successful if they wait near or in a fruiting tree of this species around sundown, assuming that they can shoot straight.
WA
X
NT
X
CYP
X
NEQ
X
Tree
X
RFK Code
539