Ficus verruculosa explained

Ficus verruculosa, the water fig, is a species of fig from sub-saharan Africa.

It is found from north eastern South Africa, northern Botswana and Namibia to Uganda and west to Nigeria in riverine and swamp fringes or grassland, always near water.[1] It is pollinated by the wasp Platyscapa binghami.[2]

The growth form of Ficus verruculosa is as a shrub, or weak-stemmed, sparsely branched shrub 0.2-0.6 m tall, less often a small tree up to 12m, often forming low, creeping thickets. Leaves oblong to lanceolate, 3.5-20 x 1.5-8.5 cm, leathery, hairless. Figs are produced mostly in pairs in leaf axils, greenish when unripe, ripening to red[3] and are fed on by African green pigeons Treron calvus.[4]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Flora of Zimbabwe: Species information: Ficus verruculosa. www.zimbabweflora.co.zw. en. 2017-08-01.
  2. Web site: Ficus verruculosa - FigWeb. www.figweb.org. 2017-08-01.
  3. Web site: CJB - African plant database - Detail. CJB. CJB, DSIC, Cyrille Chatelain -. www.ville-ge.ch. 2017-08-01.
  4. "Fig-eating by vertebrate frugivores: a global review", Mike Shanahan, Samson So, Stephen G. Compton and Richard Corlett, Biological Reviews (2001), 76, pp. 529–572