Ficus tinctoria

Botanical Description

A very variable evergreen plant, sometimes a shrub only 1 metre tall, at other times a small tree but more commonly becoming a large tree with a spreading crown that can grow up to 25 metres tall. The bole can be 300cm in diameter[ 286 Title Flora of Australia Publication Author Website http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/abif/flora/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description The full information from the Flora of Australia - on-line. An excellent resource. , 490 Title Flora Vitiensis Nova Publication Author Smith. A.C. Website http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org Publisher Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden; Hawaii Year 1979 ISBN Description A comprehensive flora of Fiji, often showing plant uses. It can be downloaded from the Internet. ]. It often starts life as an epiphyte in the branches of another tree, as it grows larger it produces many slender aerial roots that grow down from its branches. When they touch the ground they root into the soil and enlarge, providing extra nutrient to the plant which then grows much more vigorously. Over time the roots surround and constrict the trunk of the host tree, whilst the top growth shades out the host tree, leading to its death[ 490 Title Flora Vitiensis Nova Publication Author Smith. A.C. Website http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org Publisher Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden; Hawaii Year 1979 ISBN Description A comprehensive flora of Fiji, often showing plant uses. It can be downloaded from the Internet. ]. As the tree gets larger it produces aerial roots from the crown, these can become prop roots when they touch the soil, feeding and supporting the canopy and allowing it to spread even wider[ 286 Title Flora of Australia Publication Author Website http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/abif/flora/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description The full information from the Flora of Australia - on-line. An excellent resource. ]. The fruit is a commonly used food in some Pacific Islands, where it is almost a staple food[ 339 Title Agroforestry in the Pacific Islands: Systems for Sustainability Publication Author W.C. Clarke and R.R. Thaman (Editors) Website http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/80824e/80824E00.htm#Contents Publisher United Nations University Press, Tokyo Year 1993 ISBN 92-808-0824-9 Description The guide includes information on 100 species of plants for Agroforestry. It is also available on the web at the address given above. ]. The plant is gathered from the wild for local use as a food, medicine and source of fibre and dyestuff.