Common Name:

General Information

Ficus velutina is a tree, usually growing 7 - 15 metres tall, occasionally to 20 metres[]. The bole is often fluted, or comprises several that have grown together[].
The tree is harvested from the wild for local use of its edible fruit. It is occasionally cultivated as a fruit crop within its native range[].
The plant is classified as 'Least Concern' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2011)[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

,

Range

S. America - Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela; C. America - Panama to Mexico.

Habitat

Roadsides or open fields, sometimes on dry rocky hillsides, at elevations from 1,250 - 1,800 meters[]. Moist and wet evergreen forest formations at elevations between 1,000 - 2,000 metres[].

Properties

Conservation Status	Least Concern
Edibility Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	12.00 m
Pollinators	Wasps
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, 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

Fruit - raw[]. The globose fruit can be 15 - 20mm or more in diameter[].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed -

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