Ficus platypoda

Ficus platypoda, commonly known as the desert fig or rock fig, is a fig that is endemic to central and northern Australia. It is a lithophytic plant that grows on rocky outcrops, reaching 10 m in height.

Description

Ficus platypoda grows as a lithophytic shrub or tree to 10 m high. The branchlets are covered in fine hairs. The leaves alternately arrange along the stems. They are elliptical or oval in shape and measure 5.3 to 16.7cm long by 3.1- 13.3cm wide. The undersurface is furry. The oval-to-round figs can have a variety of shades of yellow, orange pink, red, or purple. They measure 0.9 to 2.8 cm in length by 1-2.8cm across.

Uses

The fruit can be eaten when soft and ripe. Horticulturally, it is suitable for use in bonsai; its tendency to form a wide trunk base and small leaves being attractive features. Specimens have been exhibited in at the 5th Annual Exhibition of Australian Native Plants as Bonsai in Canberra in November 2007.

Ecology

The wasp species Pleistodontes cuneatus pollinates the rock fig.

Taxonomy

Dutch botanist Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel described the desert fig in 1847 as Urostigma platypodum, from material collected on both the east and west coast of Australia. The material collected by Allan Cunningham from York Sound in Western Australia became the type material. E.J.H. Corner synonymised F. platypoda with Ficus leucotricha, which was described by Miquel in 1861, however as the former name is older, it has become the accepted name instead.

In 2001, genetic analysis of the Ficus platypoda populations revealed that they contained a variety of species. Ficus brachypoda, Ficus atricha, and Ficus cerasicarpa were all described as distinct species.

With over 750 species, Ficus is one of the largest angiosperm genera. Based on morphology, English botanist E. J. H. Corner divided the genus into four subgenera, which was later expanded to six. In this classification, Ficus platypoda was placed in subseries Malvanthereae, series Malvanthereae, section Malvanthera of the subgenus Urostigma. In his reclassification of the Australian Malvanthera, Australian botanist Dale J. Dixon altered the delimitations of the series within the section, but left this species in the series Malvanthereae.

In a study published in 2008, Nina Ronsted and colleagues analysed the DNA sequences from the nuclear ribosomal internal and external transcribed spacers (ITS and ETS), and the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (G3pdh) region, in the first molecular analysis of the section Malvanthera. The ancestor of two other arid Northern Territory species, F. platypoda and F. lilliputiana, was found to be F. platypoda . They classified the new series Oblquae under the subsection Platypodeae. These three species were radiated to drier areas by the ancestor of transitional rainforest species F. Obliqua.