136 MORACEAE 



Fiats capcnsis. Wild fbg\ Bomyge. This is a lofty tree, 50 or more 

 feet high, especially in the forests of the south-eastern districts from knvsna 

 to Natal, but occurring also further north in Rhodesia. The tree flowers 

 twice a year, the flowers appearing in large bunches on the trunk of the tree or 

 even on its main roots near the trunk. Its fruits attain a considerable size, 

 being as big as the smaller kinds of cultivated figs. The pulp is sweetish but 

 rather dry, and the fruits are, like those of the other species, viz. F. cordata, 

 F. lutea, etc. always filled with the larvae or adult insects of some species of 

 B/astophaga or its allies. 



How absolutely dependent the species of Ficus are on the presence of the 

 proper insect is well illustrated by an observation which the author made a 

 few years ago in the Municipal Gardens of Capetown. There is one tree of 

 Ficus capensis in the garden, probably the only one on the Cape Peninsula, 

 which, to judge from its size, may be 60 years old. Mr Chalwin, who 

 recently retired from the management of the gardens after more than 25 years' 

 service, had seen the tree producing flowers every year as far back as he 

 could remember, but they never developed into fruits, dropping off every 

 year when about the size of hazelnuts. In 1 907 we received a box of 

 nearly ripe fruit of Ficus capensis from the Knysna and found them all 

 teeming with Blastophaga. In taking some of the fruit to a friend we passed 

 through the Municipal Gardens; that season the tree developed a large 

 number of ripe fruits, all of them well infested with the insects (see Plate 25). 

 The tree has not borne again since that time. In a few fruits of Ficus capensis, 

 which we recently sent to Prof. Brauer, director of the Zoological Museum 

 at Berlin, occurred 5 species of Chalcidiae, belonging to the genera 

 Blastophaga, Goniogaster and Apocrypha, all apparently undescribed. There is 

 a large field open to a specialist here, as the number of species of Ficus in 

 Africa alone exceeds 1 60. 



The wonderboom near Pretoria is a good illustration of the vitality ot the 

 species of Ficus. The present tree, which seen from a distance forms a well 

 rounded mass, represents at least three generations. The parent tree, which 

 originally stood in the centre of the present clump, must have disappeared some 

 centuries ago, leaving a circle of trees that have sprung up from its base. In 

 the course of ages, some of these trees or of their lateral branches fell over and 

 touching the ground with their crown, in some cases 30 feet from the centre, 

 became rooted there and formed a third generation of trees, all of them 

 now combining their lofty crowns into one dome-shaped canopy of foliage. 

 (Plate 26.) 



