Common Name:

General Information

Ficus natalensis is an evergreen or shortly deciduous shrub or tree with a wide-spreading crown; it can grow from 10 - 30 metres tall. It often starts life as an epiphyte in the branch of a tree and can eventually send down aerial roots that, once they reach the ground, provide extra nutrients that help the plant grow more vigorously. These aerial roots can completely encircle the trunk of the host tree, constricting its growth - this, coupled with the more vigorous top growth, can lead to the fig outcompeting and killing the tree in which it is growing[, ]]. As the tree grows older it produces a few to many aerial roots from the crown that can become pillar roots that support the crown and allow it to spread further[, ].
The tree is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and source of fibre. It is sometimes cultivated to provide shade in plantations and villages, and also as a living fence[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Senegal to Central African Republic, Uganda and Kenya, south to northern Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, eastern S. Africa,

Habitat

Rocks with Afrotrilepis jaegeri; niayes; edges of forest with Erythrophleum guineense, Uvaria chamae; riverine and coastal forests; swamp forest; Brachystegia-Uapaca and miombo woodland; grassland often in rocky places; groundwater forest to 2,200 m[].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Semi-deciduous Tree
Height	20.00 m
Pollinators	Wasps
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

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[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

The bark is used as medicine for whooping cough, influenza and to induce lactation[, ].

Agroforestry Uses:

The plant (subspecies leprieurii) is grown as a living fence[].
The tree is often cultivated as a shade tree in coffee plantations in west and south Africa[].

Other Uses

A fibre is obtained from the bark It is used to make cloth, paper and as material for the bookbinder[, , ].
The bark is used to make bark cloth[]. For this purpose the trunk is stripped to a height of 2.5 - 3 metres according to the height at which the branches fork. The stripped trunk is smeared with cow-dung and wrapped round with plaintain leaves - a new bark soon forms which is ready to be used for bark cloth within 12 months. The third and fourth barks thus obtained are considered the finest in quality, though the tree might yield up to eight or more barks.
The thin outer bark is scraped off the inner bark and discarded. The inner bark is left during the night to dry, and any soft, pulpy substance is scraped off the inside. The strips of bark, which are some 120 - 180cm long and 45cm wide, are laid on a log with a flattened surface and beaten with a mallet until they are the thickness of strong brown paper, by which time they will be 180 - 270cm long and 120cm wide. It is then spread out in the sun to dry, the exposure to light giving the upper surface a tint somewhat like terra-cotta, while the underside is of a lighter shade. Any holes or flaws in the cloth are cut into neat squares and patched with pieces taken from the edges so deftly that in a well-made bark-cloth they are not noticeable. These cloths are usually made up into sheets 2.4 metres square, two lengths being stitched together and pressed in such a manner that the seam is not seen when the cloth is being worn. Strips of fibre from the dry plantain stem are used for thread[].

Propagation

Seed -

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