Ficus natalensis natalensis




	Photographs © Jean-Yves Rasplus (INRA).

	In horticulture at Bergen University (Norway) in Kees Berg's conservancy, 1994. Photographs © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa)

False Bay Park, Lister's Point, South Africa. Photograph © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa)	Mbala, Zambia. Photograph © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa)

Lake Chala, Tanzania. Photograph © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa)





In horticulture (Cape Town), origin St Lucia, Kwazulu-Natal. Photographs © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa). B-phase figs receptive for pollination and oviposition. In horticulture (Cape Town), origin St Lucia, Kwazulu-Natal. Photographs © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa).




Photographs © Alan Manson (Hilton, Pietermaritzburg) https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/68363511

Distribution

From north-eastern South Africa to Uganda and Kenya.

Biology

Pollinators: Elisabethiella allotriozoonoides (Grandi), Elisabethiella socotrensis Mayr, Elisabethiella stuckenbergi Grandi, Alfonsiella brongersmai Wiebes, Alfonsiella longiscapa Joseph & Alfonsiella natalensis Wiebes, 1972. Four of these species: Alfonsiella brongersmai, A. natalensis, A. longiscapa and E. allotriozoonoides have been recorded together in the same fig crop in Uganda (Compton et al., 2009). Elisabethiella socotrensis often develops together with E. stuckenbergi in the same fig in South Africa (Cornille et al., 2011).

Frugivores

African Green Pigeon feeding on Ficus natalensis near Katima Mulilo in the Caprivi strip, Namibia (December 2016). Photograph © Otto Schmidt (Cape Town).

Schalow's Turaco feeding on Ficus natalensis near Katima Mulilo in the Caprivi strip, Namibia (December 2016). Photograph © Otto Schmidt (Cape Town).

Violet-backed Starling feeding on Ficus natalensis near Katima Mulilo in the Caprivi strip, Namibia (December 2016). Photograph © Otto Schmidt (Cape Town).

Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird feeding on Ficus natalensis near Katima Mulilo in the Caprivi strip, Namibia (December 2016). Photograph © Otto Schmidt (Cape Town).

Habitat

Forest (both wet and dry), and woodland in rocky places, up to an altitude of 2200m.

Description

(after C.C. Berg in Berg & Wiebes 1992):

Biological form		shrub or tree up to 30 m tall, terrestrial or hemi-epiphytic
Leaves	shape & colour	oblong to obovate, (sub)coriaceous, apex acuminate, base acute, both surface glabrous
	size	2.5-10 x 1-5 cm
	lateral veins	6-13 pairs, midrib not reaching the apex of the lamina
	petiole	0.2-3 cm long, glabrous
Stipules		0.2-1 cm long, glabrous, caducous
Figs	position	in pairs in the leaf axils or just below the leaves, initially enclosed by bud covers
	shape	globose, Æ 1.5-2 cm (fresh), glabrous
	peduncle	0.2-1 cm long
	basal bracts	2-2,5 mm long, caducous

References

Berg, C.C. 1988. New taxa and combinations in Ficus (Moraceae) in Africa. Kew Bulletin 43: 77- 97.

Berg, C.C. 1989. Moraceae. In: R.M. Polhill (ed.) Flora of Tropical East Africa. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam.

Berg, C.C. 1990. Distribution of African taxa of Ficus (Moraccae). [Proc. 12th AETFAT]. Mitt. inst. Allg. Bot. Hamburg 23: 401-405.

Berg, C.C. 1990. Annotated check-list of the Ficus species of the African floristic region, with special reference and a key to the taxa of southern Africa. Kirkia, 13: 253-291.

Berg, C.C. 1991. Moraceae. In: E. Launert & G.Y. Pope (eds) Flora Zambesiaca 9, 6. Natural History Museum, London.

Berg, C.C. & Hijman, M.E.E. 1989. Chapter 11. Ficus. Flora of Tropical East Africa (ed. R.M. Polhill). 43-86. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam.

Berg, C.C., Hijman, M.E.E. & Weerdenburg, J.C.A. 1984. Moracées (incl. Cécropiacées). Flore du Gabon 26: 1–276.

Berg, C.C., Hijman, M.E.E. & Weerdenburg, J.C.A. 1985. Moracées (incl. Cécropiacées). Flore du Cameroun 28: 1–298.

Berg, C.C. & Wiebes, J.T. 1992. African fig trees and fig wasps. Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen. Amsterdam, 1-298 pp.

Bouček Z., A. Watsham & J.T. Wiebes, 1981. The fig wasp fauna of the receptacles of Ficus thonningii (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea). Tijdschrift Voor Entomologie, 124(5): 149-233.

Burrows, J. & Burrows, S. 2003. Figs of southern & south-central Africa. Umdaus Press, Hatfield. 379 pp.

Compton, S.G., Grehan, K. & van Noort, S. 2009. A fig crop pollinated by three or more species of agaonid fig wasps. African Entomology 17: 215-222.

Cornille, A., Underhill, J.G., Cruaud, A, Hossaert-McKey, M., Johnson, S. D., Tolley, K.A., Kjellberg, F., van Noort, S., Proffit, M. 2012. Floral volatiles, pollinator sharing and diversification in the fig-wasp mutualism: insights from Ficus natalensis and its two wasp pollinators (South Africa). Proceedings of the Royal Society B 279: 1731-1739 doi: 10.1098/rspb.2011.1972

Credits

Photographs and distribution map © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa) or © Jean-Yves Rasplus (INRA), or © Alan Manson (Hilton, Pietermaritzburg), or © Otto Schmidt (Cape Town).

Next species

Ficus persicifolia Warb.