Some Ficus

[Luisd]

I would like to share some pictures of Ficus grown here.

Ficus lutea, a african fig:

Ficus drupacea (or mysorensis)

The pic is not very good, but this is a big Ficus sycomorus:

[Luisd]

Two large F. macrophylla, in the Jardines de Picasso:

Other, with a hole in the street for the aerial root:

A common F. elastica:

[Luisd]

Ficus rubiginosa var.australis:

Aerial roots:

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Very nice. I did not realize that Ficus did so well in Spain.

[epicure3]

Beautiful pictures. Would love to see some more. Do you have aerial roots growing from F. benjamina as well?

[Luisd]

Thanks for the comments.Epicure3, I haven´t seen aerial roots in F. benjamina, there are only young trees of this fig.

Other Ficus in a park, Ficus cyathistipula:

Ficus rubiginosa "Variegata"

Ficus religiosa:

[Bennz]

Hi Luisd,

I am also impressed with those Ficus! The amount of aerial rooting on the rubiginosa is higher than I've commonly seen in this species in Australia, and as good as the best I've seen in NZ (where they tend to grow more aerial roots). I had thought the NZ rubiginosa grew more aerial roots because of the more consistent rainfall and humidity and cooler temperatures.

Is Malaga humid year around? Are these trees irrigated, or is there anything done to induce aerial roots?

Btw, those F. macrophylla are almost certainly the Lord Howe Island form F. macrophylla var. columnaris, which has a far more pronounced aerial-rooting form than the mainland form. Are they grown form the large tree at Palermo?

How many Ficus species produce viable seeds in Spain?

[Bennz]

I really like this one! I wish rubiginosa produced aerial roots like this consistently in my country. Instead, they sometimes do it, no way to tell in advance.

Aerial roots on my largest F. m. colmnaris;

[JasonD]

Ficus columnaris at the Huntington Botanical Gardens in Pasadena, near Los Angeles, seem to have few aerial roots, and they're quite large. I suspect lack of humidity determines that.

[Bennz]

Ficus columnaris at the Huntington Botanical Gardens in Pasadena, near Los Angeles, seem to have few aerial roots, and they're quite large. I suspect lack of humidity determines that.

Jason, they are not columnaris. Those trees are mislabled and have given all Californians the wrong impression of this species. A friend of mine 'imported' cuttings from the Huntington tree and has them growing in NZ. The growth habit is the same here as they are there. True columnaris growing alongside these cuttings are about twice as vigorous and produce massive aerial roots.

[Luisd]

Hi Bennz, in Málaga the climate is humid in winter and some dry in the summer, I think that with more humidity the development of aerial roots would be greater.I have seen as many aerial roots in the variety australis.

The F. macrophylla of the "Jardines de Picasso" are very old, with about 140 years.There are several in the city but these are the largest.This park was a garden of a family that had a commercial boats, and brought some plants for many years.

Other view of the trees:

I think that these are not the variety columnaris.There is a tree of this variety in the Orotava Botanical garden, in Tenerife (Canary Islands) very impressive and perhaps oldest, you can see a pic in this page:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3427/3257627335_444b38c957.jpg

http://gardenbreizh.org/modules/pix/cache/photos_10000/GBPIX_photo_17594.jpg

Produce viable seeds here rubiginosa and microcarpa.

Luis

Edited March 8, 2011 by Luisd

[fastfeat]

Luis--

Great pics of some very nice trees!

Is F. lutea common there? Here in SoCal, the only one I know of is at Fullerton Arboretum (though there may be others in collections and arboreta.) F. drupacea (F. mysorensis) is somewhat more common here.