Common Name:

General Information

Ficus nodosa is a deciduous tree with a spreading crown; it can grow up to 30 metres tall. The straight or slightly crooked bole can be cylindrical or markedly fluted; it is up to 60cm in diameter. Older trees develop high, spreading buttresses that can be 3 metres tall[, , , , ].
The tree is harvested from the wild for local use as a food, medicine and source of fibre and wood. A large tree, it is suitable for cultivation in tropical parkland[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

, ,

Range

Southeast Asia - Indonesia, through New Guinea, northern Australia to the Solomon Islands.

Habitat

Lowland forest[]. Gallery forests along the sides of creeks and rivers, at elevations up to 100 metres in Australia[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Deciduous Tree
Height	25.00 m
Pollinators	Wasps
Cultivation Status	Ornamental, 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

Leaves[].

Fruit[]. The yellow to purple-brown, subglobose to almost pear-shaped fruits are 25 - 40mm in diameter[].

Medicinal

The leaves are applied externally as a styptic and antiseptic[].

Other Uses

The fibrous bark is used to make strings and clothing[].

The bark is fibrous. We have no specific information for this species, but the fibre is likely to be used for making cordage, possibly cloth and maybe also to make tapa bark cloth[].

The fibrous branches can be used to clean the teeth[].

The leaves of some species are used to wrap food for cooking[].

The leaves of some species are quite rough and can be used as a sandpaper substitute and for scouring pots[].

The wood is occasionally used for timber[].
The wood of plants in this genus is usually of low quality, light in weight, soft and not very durable. It is sometimes used for purposes such as light construction, digging sticks, yam stakes, etc[].
The wood is also used for fuel and sometimes for making fire by friction[].

Propagation

Seed -

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