Plants of
South Australia
Ficus brachypoda
Moraceae
Native Fig
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock painting: 1

Prior names

Urostigma brachypodum

Urostigma platypodum

Ficus platypoda var. minor

Etymology

Ficus from Latin for the fig tree and its fruit. Brachypoda from the Greek 'brachys' meaning short and 'podus' meaning foot or stem stalk, referring to the fruit with a very short pedicel.

Distribution and status

Found in north-western South Australia, growing on rocky outcrops near water. Also found in Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland. Native. Common in South Australia. Common in the others States.
Herbarium region: North Western
NRM region: Alinytjara Wilurara
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Shrub or small tree to 5 m high, often with several-stems and sprawling among rocks. Leaves eventually glabrous, lanceolate to ovate, to 100 mm long and 25 mm wide; rigid, dark and glossy, with many transverse parallel nerves and a broad thick stalk to 20 mm long. Flowers are in the centre of what is popularly regarded as the fruit. Female flowers with 4 or 5 reddish-brown concave ciliolate perianth-segments about as along as the ovary; stigma 1, linear, longer than the style proper; receptacle almost sessile, axillary, globular, smooth, closed at the summit by a small thick umbonate cap. Flowering at all time of year. Fruits are large, orange to dark red, round fleshy fruit. Seeds are red brown ellipsoid seed to 2 mm long and 1.2 mm wide.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between January and December. Collect mature fruits, those turning orange or red. Place the fruit in a bucket of water and rub the flesh off with your hands. Drain the water and wash again if required to remove all the flesh. Then spread the wet seeds on some paper towel and leave to dry. Be very careful as the seeds are very small. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place. From one collection, the seed viability was high, at 80%.

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA210,300 (77.81 g)29-Oct-2013TST1183
North Western
24-Mar-201580%-18°C
Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.
Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.
Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.
% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.
Germination table:
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