Ficus conundrum

What is the real identity of this Ficus?

There are a number of very similar giant Ficus grown in Spain and Portugal. Sorting them out is quite complicated. Most of the trees in Lisbon are Ficus macrophylla. But this tree at Monserrate is something else!

It is not just at Monserrate that these strangler figs have botanists in a fix. The Ficus magnolioides of Borzi has been a source of considerable confusion. This was finally sorted out relatively recently: S. Fici, F.M. Raimondo, ON THE REAL IDENTITY OF FICUS MAGNOLIOIDES in Curtis's Botanical Magazine vol: 13 nº2, p.105 ,1996.

The correct name of Ficus magnolioides Borzì var. magnolioides (Moraceae) is F. macrophylla Desf. ex Pers. subsp. columnaris (C. Moore) P.S. Green. This name is derived from C. Moore's Ficus columnaris C. Moore & F. Muell., an endemic Fig of the Lord Howe Island which Fici et al identified as a subspecies of Ficus macrophylla of the Australian Mainland (Moreton Bay Fig). The subspecies is distinguished by its abundant aerial roots. Ficus macrophylla has little or no development of aerial roots.

The "Banyan" fig growing on the Chapel is currently labelled as Ficus macrophylla. Significantly the name in Spanish is given as "Ficus de Hojas de Magnolia" - a throw-back to the days when this fig was known in Southern Europe as Ficus magnolioides. However, Walter Oates in his description of the Chapel in 1929 describes a large spreading Ficus rubiginosa in its place.

What is the true identity of this Fig?

Árboles en España : Manual de identificación (Antonio López Lillo & José Manuel Sánchez de Lorenzo Cáceres)

Ficus macrophylla Desf. ex Pers.

Ficus magnolioides Borzi

Árbol corpulento de más de 15 m de altura, con copa amplia y tronco grueso. Las raíces superficiales se extienden en una gran zona alrededor del árbol. Hojas oblongo-ovadas de 20 x 12 cm, con el ápice obtuso o ligeiramente acuminado y la base redondeada. Nervio central destacado. La textura es coriácea y la superficie es glabra, de color verde oscuro en el haz, mientras que el envés es claro y cubierto de una pubescencia rubiginosa. Pecíolo de 10-15 cm de longitud. Frutos axilares, ovales u oblongo-esféricos, de 1-2 cm de diámetro, con pedúnculo de 1-1.5 cm de longitud. En la madurez son de color púrpura con manchas amarillentas. Árbol nativo de Austalia. Frecuente en ciudades de toda la zona Mediterránea, donde llega a alcanzar notables portes. En el Jardin Botánico de la Orotava (Tenerife) se cultiva la subespecie columnaris (=F. columnaris C. Moore), caracterizada por la emisíon de raíces aéreas que van fomando columnas de apoyo a las ramas. Esta subespecie es nativa de la isla de Lord Howe (Mar de Tasmania).

This description is sufficiently detailed by which to exclude the Monserrate tree in a number of aspects:

1. There are no superficial roots. (The butress roots are the great distinguishing character from a layman's point of view.)

2. The leaves are much smaller than 20 cm x 12 cm.

3. The petioles are much shorter than 10-15 cm.

4. The fruits do not have peduncles (stalks) of 1-1.5 cm.

From the same manual a description of

Ficus rubiginosa Desf. ex Vent.

Ficus australis Willd. non Hort.

Árbol de 8-10m de altura en nuestro clima mediterráneo, con la copa denas y a parasolada. Yemas pubescentes. Hojas elíptico-ovales de 5-15 x 6 cm, con el ápice obtuso y la base redondeada. Son de textura coriácea y tienan el haz glabro, salvo en las hojas jóvenes, y el envés con densa pubescensia de color herrumbroso. Pecíolo de 2-4 cm. de longitud. Frutus axilares, sésiles o escasamente pedunculados, globosos de 1,5 cm. de diámetro, cubiertos de pubescencia herrumbroa. Árbol nativo de Australia. Existe una forma variegada. Es árbol frecuente en Canarias y en todo el litoral mediterráneo, donde pueden verse notables ejemplares. Existe una forma glabra sin tomenta alguno en hojas y frutos, Australis.

From this description the leaves and fruits fit the Monserrate tree. However there is no mention of the most striking characteristic : the aerial roots! This is most probably since the authors are describing Ficus rubiginosa from dry climates - like the Canary Islands. In its Australian habitat this species produces abundant aerial roots, trees growing in the relatively humid climate of Madeira are also prolific in this aspect.

Other candidates: "On Lord Howe Island, a rare fig, Ficus columnaris, sends roots down from the branches which reach the ground and become new trunks, and so the tree walks in all directions until it becomes a small forest. Several of the more tropical banyans also walk in this way, including Australia's Ficus virens [leaves like a poplar], India's Ficus retusa [leaves like Ficus benjamina] and Ficus benghalensis [distintive and characteristic leaves] and the aptly named Ficus polypoda [Sorry Russell but this must be F. platypoda - no indumentum to leaf backs]. A famous ancient Ficus benghalensis near Poona in India has hundreds of trunks and a circumference of a kilometre". (Russell Fransham)

None of the above.

So what about Ficus rubiginosa? does it have aerial roots?
Edward F. Gilman and Dennis G. Watson of the University of Florida state in their paper on this species that "it does not develop the profusion of roots that some other [ficus] do."

efloras.org disagrees:

Ficus rubiginosa Deaf. ex Vent., lard. Malm. t. 114. 1805. Benth. & Mueller, Fl. Aust. 6: 173. 1873; Bot. Mag. 56: t. 2939.1829; Parker, l.c. 481. 1956; in Gard. Bull. Singapore 21(1): 26. 1965. Engl. Vern.: The Port Jackson Fig; Rusty Fig; Little Leaf Fig.
A large tree with wide spreading crown and hanging aerial roots. Young shoots rusty-pubescent. Leaves with 1-3 cm long petiole; lamina coriaceous, elliptic-oblong, 6-10 cm long, 4-8 cm broad, 3-costate at the rounded or ± base, margins entire, obtuse-acuminate at the apex, glabrous above, rusty pubescent to glabrescent beneath, lateral nerves 10-12 pairs, intercostals stipules lanceolate, acuminate. Hypanthodia in axillary pairs on c. 2.5 thick peduncles, globose, c. 8-10 mm in diameter, rusty-pubescent, by broad, membranous, c. 4 mm long, deciduous basal bracts. Male flowers: suimerous, intermixed with the female flowers; sepals 3, brown; stamen Ovary with a long, lateral style and short, acute stigma. Figs globular, in diam., rusty pubescent to glabrescent, warted.

The Australian National Botanic Garden has a series of photographs of native Ficus posted online:

Ficus macrophylla

Long petioles to leaves, long peduncles to figs, colour of fruits.

Ficus macrophylla subsp. columnaris

Note the long petioles to the leaves

Ficus platypoda

Here is another contender - but the leaf backs are green without rusty indumentum.

Ficus rubiginosa

Small leaves, sessile fruits, rusty leaf backs

Ficus rubiginosa habitat photo

Photo T.M. Tame ©Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust, Sydney Australia

Ficus rubiginosa - cultivated specimen in Japan

Well my vote is still with Walter Oates : Ficus rubiginosa.

Unless, perhaps .... it is this one!

Ficus watkinsiana

Tacsonia mollissima

Paxton's Magazine of Botany, and Register of Flowering Plants edited by Joseph Paxton: ""

Passiflora mollissima

Bot. Mag., Nº 4187

Passiflora mollissima
Bot. Reg. for 1846 plate 11
Paxton's Mag. of Bot., vol. xiii, p.25


Tacsonia " a genus of very ornamental climbing plants, with the habit of the Passion Flowers, but easily distinguished from them by the immense length of the tube of the calyx. The name Tacsonia is derived from that applied to one of the species in Peru. There are numerous species in the genus, but only two as yet have been introduced." Jane Loudon Ladies' Flower-garden of Ornamental Greenhouse Plants (1848).
The two species referred by Mrs. Loudon were Tacsonia pinnatistipula Juss. and Tacsonia mollissima H. B. et K. She describes the plant as "not so ornamental as T. pinnatistipula" though of similar growth and thriving best in a conservatory. A native of the tropics of New Granada, it grows at an altitude of nine to eleven thousand feet, thus suited to a temperate climate. When grown in a stove the blossoms fall off without expanding.

Found by Humboldt at santa Fè de Bogota, and Lobb in woods near Quito. Raised from seeds sent to Veitch at Exeter. (1844).

An important identifying characteristic of this species is the presence of 12 green glands which stud the purple petiole.


Photograph of genuine Passiflora mollissima from Mobot

The plant generally grown under this name in Portugal is a hybrid.

Synonyms
Murucuja mollissima Spreng. or Murucuia mollissima (Kunth) Spreng.
!Passiflora tomentosa Lam. invalid name
Passiflora tomentosa var. mollissima (Kunth) Triana & Planch.
Tacsonia mixta subsp. tomentosa (Cav.) Mast.
!Tacsonia mollissima Kunth invalid name
Tacsonia mollissima var. glabrescens Mast.

Swan River Colony

Edward's Botanical Register 1839 published an account of the Swan River Colony, West Australia, written by John Lindley.

It has appeared to the Editor desirable to take advantage of this opportunity, for publishing at once a detailed account of the vegetation of one of the most interesting of the British Colonial possessions, from which multitudes of seeds are now continually arriving, and which it is absolutely necessary for the lover of gardens to have some knowledge, if he would avoid the vexation of buying plants of no value under high sounding and imposing names. It is probable that for some years to come, few species deserving cultutivation, will be received from Swan River, beyond such as are noticed in this Appendix, which will therefore, it is hoped, form a useful guide to purchasers in this country, and enable those who reside in the colony, or who have friends there, to judge on the one hand what to send home, and on the other, what to ask their correspondents to collect

The Swan River Colony is stationed on the South-west coast of New Holland, about two degrees nearer the tropics than Sydney, on the opposite coast, the mouth of the river being nearly 32º S. lat. ... The country is described as being usually of the open forest description, consisting of undulating plains, covered with a great profusion of plants ; three-fourths of the trees belonging to the genus Eucalyptus. It is broken by the limestone mountains of the Darling Range, which rise about 2000 feet above the sea, and are covered with evergreen trees. ... the climate of the Swan River is like that of the South of Italy ... while any of the native plants may be expected to thrive in the open air in England during the summer, none are likely to bear our winters except the mountain plants, and those only in the South of England.

The more conspicuous plants which greatly contribute to the landscape are, according to Brown, Kingia australis, a species of Xanthorhaea, a Zamia nearly allied to and perhaps not distinct from Z. spiralis of the East coast, although it is said to frequently attain the height of thirty feet ; a species of Callitris ; one or two of Casuarina ; an Exocarpus, probably not different from E. cupressiformis ; and Nuytsia floribunda .... gigantic specimens of Banksia grandis, ... forming groups [with Zamia spiralis] that impart to some places a character perfectly tropical.

Hardenbergia comptoniana

Hardenbergia comptoniana Benth.
in Hueg. Enum 41.

Flora Australiensis, George Bentham (assisted by Ferdinand Mueller - govt. botanist, Melbourne, Victoria) London, 1864
West Australia. King Georg's Sound, R. Brown ; and thence to Swan River, Drimmond, 1st. collection and n. 271, Huegel, Preiss, n. 1093, 1094, and others.

Jardins de France (1857) "Hardenbergia Comptoniana Bth. Elle a été figurée dans le Botanical Register, tab. 290, sous le nome de Glycine Comptoniana, et elle est aussi connue des horticulteurs sous celui de Kennedya Comptoniana Link.

First classified as a Glycine (Wisteria) this vine was quickly transferred to Kennedya (under which name Walter Oates referred to it cautiously in his 1929 article). Grown as a glasshouse climber in Britain. Jane Loudon in her Ladies Flower-garden of Ornamental Greenhouse Plants (1848) calls it "one of the most common plants in greenhouses, as it is of remarkably easy culture". She gos on to state that "the plant is a native of the neighbourhood of Port Jackson, in New Holland, and it was introduced in 1803." She describes its "twining habit, and when planted in the free ground of a conservatory, it will grow to a considerable height."

From Paxton's Magazine 1841

The description that accompanies this illustration recommends this Hardenbergia for pot culture since in the glasshouse border it is apt to grow vigorously and flower only after it has reached considerable size. The example provided for the plate was grown on the estate of the quintessentially named Victorian gentleman: Sir Edmond Antrobus, Bart., at Cheam. His gardener was nicely named too: Mr. Green.


Hardenbergia macrophylla
Swan River Colony, West Australia. Introduced by Sir James Stirling, who sent seeds to England in 1835. Raised by Robert Mangles at Sunningdale, Berks. Flowered by Mr. Kyle gardener to R. Barclay of Layton Essex in May

Lycopodium clavatum

Franz Eugen Köhler

Lycopodium clavatum L.

Club Moss. Walter Oates described this plant as growing in the Fern Valley in 1929. Is it still there? This plant is naturally occuring in mountainous areas of Portugal. Globally widespread, it is considered to be in danger of extinction in the Serra da Estrella. What of its status in Sintra?

Lycopodium clavatum

Orto Botanico di Palermo

Orto botanico di Palermo - viale delle Palme
opera del pittore Francesco Lojacono (1838-1915)