Thursday, July 17, 2014

Moreton Bay Figs

During my exploration of Rose Bay while in Sydney I came across a nice stand of Moreton Bay fig trees (Ficus macrophylla).
The Moreton Bay fig is a large evergreen banyan tree and is a native of most of the eastern coast of Australia from the Atherton Tableland in far north Queensland to the Illawarra on the south coast of New South Wales















 It is best known for its beautiful buttress roots.
This is just one of the many native fig trees which grow around the country.














 Others start their life as epiphytes (or stranglers) and when their roots reach the ground they begin to envelope their host tree eventually killing it.
Others produce adventitious roots which hang from the branches and, when they reach the ground, thicken and appear as secondary trunks.
The fruit of these trees is very attractive to bird life and flying foxes ie. fruit bats.

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