Common Name:

General Information

Ficus recurvata is an evergreen or briefly deciduous tree with a dense, spreading crown; it can grow from 4 - 35 metres tall. The cylindrical bole is buttressed in very large specimens[]. The plant often begins life as an epiphyte, growing in the branch of another tree; as it grows older it sends down aerial roots which, when they reach the ground quickly form roots and become much thicker and more vigorous. They supply nutrients to the fig, allowing it to grow faster than the host tree. The aerial roots gradually encircle the host tree, preventing its main trunk from expanding, whilst at the same time the foliage smothers the foliage of the host. Eventually the host dies, leaving the fig to carry on growing without competition.
The plant is sometimes harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and source of fibre and wood.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Somalia, Kenya, eastern DR Congo, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique.

Habitat

Rain-forest; sorghum fields; riverine and coastal forest; swamp forest and flood plains; humid black soil; loamy soils; woodland; alluvial soils; at elevations up to 600 metres, occasionally to 1,000 metres[].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	0.00 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

The root powder mixed with water is drunk for the treatment of impotence, cardiac pain and hysteria[].

A bark decoction is drunk in case of retention of the afterbirth[].
Ash from the bark is taken with butter against hiccups[].

Other Uses

String and rope are made from the bark[].

The wood is made into furniture and mortars[].

Propagation

Seed -

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