Common Name:

General Information

Ficus stuhlmannii is a deciduous tree with a dense, well-formed crown; it can grow 10 - 15 metres tall. 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 edible fruit is often gathered from the wild for local use. Although not usually cultivated, the tree is often protected by local people in order to safeguard their crop of fruit[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

East tropical Africa - Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, southeastern DR Congo, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland, northern S. Africa.

Habitat

Lower montane woodland, at elevations up to 1,800 metres[]. Miombo and mixed deciduous woodland, often on termitaria or on rocky outcrops[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Deciduous Tree
Height	10.00 m
Pollinators	Wasps
Cultivation Status	Semi-cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

A tree of moist areas in the tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 1,800 metres[]. In Tanzania, the tree grows in areas where the mean annual rainfall is in the range 1,000 - 1,400mm[].
Thrives in a variety of soil types[].
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[]. The pulp is sweet when ripe but watery when unripe[]. Both ripe and unripe fruits are collected, especially by children, and eaten with the seeds as a snack[]. The pink-purple-red, rounded fruits are 15 - 22mm in diameter[].

Medicinal

A decoction of the roots is drunk to stimulate lactation[].

Other Uses

A fibre is obtained from the bark[].

Propagation

Seed -
Cuttings.

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