Rusty fig tree (Ficus rubiginosa)

Description

Ficus rubiginosa, commonly known as the rusty fig or Port Jackson fig (damun in the Dharug language), is a species of flowering plant native to eastern Australia in the genus Ficus. Beginning as a seedling that grows on other plants (hemiepiphyte) or rocks (lithophyte), F. rubiginosa matures into a tree 30 m (100 ft) high and nearly as wide with a yellow-brown buttressed trunk. The leaves are oval and glossy green and measure from 4 to 19.3 cm (1 1⁄2–7 1⁄2 in) long and 1.25 to 13.2 cm (1⁄2–5 1⁄4 in) wide. The fruits are small, round and yellow, and can ripen and turn red at any time of year, peaking in spring and summer. Like all figs, the fruit is in the form of a syconium, an inverted inflorescence with the flowers lining an internal cavity. F. rubiginosa is exclusively pollinated by the fig wasp species Pleistodontes imperialis, which may comprise four cryptospecies. The syconia are also home to another fourteen species of wasp, some of which induce galls while others parasitise the pollinator wasps, and at least two species of nematode. Many species of bird, including pigeons, parrots and various passerines, eat the fruit. Ranging along the Australian east coast from Queensland to Bega in southern New South Wales (including the Port Jackson area, leading to its alternative name), F. rubiginosa grows in rainforest margins and rocky outcrops. It is used as a shade tree in parks and public spaces, and when potted is well-suited for use as an indoor plant or in bonsai. Ficus rubiginosa's range spans the entire eastern coastline of Australia, from the top of the Cape York Peninsula in north Queensland to the vicinity of Bega on the south coast of New South Wales. The range extends westwards to Porcupine Gorge National Park in Queensland and the far western plains in New South Wales. F. rubiginosa f. rubiginosa and F. rubiginosa f. glabrescens are found over most of the range, though the latter does not occur south past the New South Wales-Queensland border region. Lithophytic, hemiepiphytic and tree forms can be found together in local populations of plants.