Common Name:

General Information

Ficus vitiensis ranges from a shrub just 1 metre tall to a tree that can be 20 metres or more tall. The bole does not usually exceed 35cm in diameter[].
The fruit is considered to be the nicest of all the Fijian figs and is commonly harvested from the wild for local use. The plant also has local medicinal uses, is a source of materials, and is occasionally found growing in gardens in Fiji[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Pacific - Fiji.

Habitat

Often locally abundant as a shrub or small tree in open grassland, hillside thickets, and patches of dry forest in open areas; frequently also found as a larger tree in denser forest, sometimes on creek banks; at elevations up to 850 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	12.00 m
Pollinators	Wasps
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

The plant can produce fruit all year round[].
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

Fruit - raw. Considered to be the most edible of the wild figs in Fiji[]. A sweet flavour[]. The small fruit is much enjoyed by children[]. The figs are green, becoming yellow and up to 5cm in diameter[].

Medicinal

A decoction (of leaves?) is reported to provide an internal remedy for sprains[].

Other Uses

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 used to clean 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 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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