Items · Rhodes University Botanical Collections

Starting again with tree landmarks

Newspaper article: "This huge Moreton Bay wild fig tree in the Port Elizabeth Club grounds (the tree with the biggest spread in the city?) is no doubt one of the "nice lot of seedlings" raised from seed in 1882 by Mr John Wilson. Four were planted in the corners of Trinder Square when it was laid out as a garden in 1888. As the ohter Ficus macrophylla seedlings were distributed "far and wide," the great landmark trees at the corner of Main Road and 17th Avenue, Walmer, were probably from the same lot. (Macro-phylla means long-leafed of big-leafed.)"

Plant may send spire toppling

Newspaper article: "Plant may send spire toppling. Few of the people who attend services at Grahamstown's historical Methodist Commemoration Church know that one of the five spires which top the old building is in danger of being destroyed - by a plant. The plant, a wild fig which takes root in any foreign substance and grows without soil, is slowly sending its long, leaf-tipped shoots along the delicate cement-work of the spire".

Ficus natalensis in Bathurst, 1963

Caption: "A huge wild fig, F. natalensis in Bathurst, Sept. 1963. It stands on the corner opposite the Pig & Whistle Hotel. The overall spread is 56 yards one way and 47 the other, yet there is only one main stem. Ii is amazing that lateral branches can remain in place without splitting at the main stem. One large branch broke off in ca 1975. A large branch broke off in 1983. The rest were cut back to the main trunk. The main stem of the big wild fig at Bathurst town showing how close to the ground the branches start to spread. Sept. 1963. Planted in 1918."

Heavy crop of wild figs on the big tree in Bathurst

Caption: "Heavy crop of wild figs on the big tree opposite the Pig & Whistle Hotel, Bathurst. Sept. 1963. They were fed over by large flocks of black-bellied and redwing starlings. Ficus ceratostoma."

Wild fig tree growing from under the branches of a palm

Caption: "Wild fig tree growing from under the branches of a palm. In grounds of Roman Catholic church, King Williams Town. 1960."

Ficus craterostoma

Caption: "Ficus craterostoma. Fine wild figs at Cweba Halt, near Hamburg, C.P. May 1960. Stand about 40 ft. high."

Large Ficus beside road between Impetu and Komga

Caption: "Large Ficus beside road between Impetu and Komga n which green pigeons, trumpeter hornbills, etc. were feeding heavily. Oct. 1963."

Wild fig planted at De Hoop, Bredasdorp

Caption: "Wild fig planted by Mr. van Oordt at De Hoop, Bredasdorp, in April 1957. One years growth."

Young wild fig tree growth

Caption: "Gerry Broekhuysen kneeling beside the fig tree planted by Mr. van Oordt at De Hoop. Sept. 1961. Seen in August 1988 this tree was a robust and wide-spreading tree of good size."

Ficus capensis

Caption: "Ficus capensis in Gordon Ranger's garden, Kei Road. June 1963."

Streamers of fruiting branches of Ficus capensis

Caption: "Streamers of fruiting branches of Ficus capensis Kei Road. June 1963."

Green fruits of Ficus capensis

Caption: "Green fruits of Ficus capensis about full size. June 1963."

Large wild-fig leafless

Caption: "Large wild-fig leafless. Norris's. Nov. 1961. Been this since March."

A wild fig tree growing out of a stone wall ruins

Caption: "A wild fig tree growing out of the stone wall ruins of the fort at Kaffir Drift on the Great Fish River, Bathurst district. 1982. The site of the old fort is now a police station."

The Wonderboom, Ficus pretoriae, north of Pretoria, April 1965

Caption: "The Wonderboom, Ficus pretoriae, north of Pretoria. April 1965. The central parent trunk was 12 ½ feet in diameter. The secondary growth consists of 7 separate daughter groups but two of these form grand-daughters which form a third circle around the central parent. The whole canopy is given as about 165 feet in diameter, and about 75 feet high. The measurements were 186 feet. The mother tree consists of 5 close-growing stems and her canopy is about 99 feet overall. A notice at the site says that this tree was probably able to develop in this way through being held sacred and dedicated by burial to a chief and then given tribal protection. Although it is large overall it attains this by virtue of the daughter and grand-daughters groups. The fig tree at Kaffir drift has 5 central stems and no daughter groups. It is about 168 feet in diameter of canopy, i.e. without the secondary groups. The big fig tree in Bathurst village has only one central stem yet its canopy diameter is 162 feet in diameter, i.e. from one stem."

The Wonderboom, Ficus pretoriae, north of Pretoria, April 1965

Caption: "The Wonderboom, Ficus pretoriae, north of Pretoria. April 1965. The central parent trunk was 12 ½ feet in diameter. The secondary growth consists of 7 separate daughter groups but two of these form grand-daughters which form a third circle around the central parent. The whole canopy is given as about 165 feet in diameter, and about 75 feet high. The measurements were 186 feet. The mother tree consists of 5 close-growing stems and her canopy is about 99 feet overall. A notice at the site says that this tree was probably able to develop in this way through being held sacred and dedicated by burial to a chief and then given tribal protection. Although it is large overall it attains this by virtue of the daughter and grand-daughters groups. The fig tree at Kaffir drift has 5 central stems and no daughter groups. It is about 168 feet in diameter of canopy, i.e. without the secondary groups. The big fig tree in Bathurst village has only one central stem yet its canopy diameter is 162 feet in diameter, i.e. from one stem."