Common Name:

General Information

Ficus preussii is a shrub or tree, often epiphytic; it can grow up to 10 metres tall[, ].
The tree is harvested from the wild as a local source of fibre.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, DR Congo, Uganda.

Habitat

Forest often near water or on moist ground (riparian); secondary forest[].

Properties

Other Uses Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	7.50 m
Pollinators	Wasps
Cultivation Status	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

None known

Other Uses

The bark is fibrous. Traditionally, the bark is used to make a cloth - it is first removed from the bole and large branches, then soaked in water for several days, dried in the shade and then beaten with a mallet to make it supple enough for use[]..

Propagation

Seed -

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