Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Ficus destruens seedlings

A friend of mine likes to grow plants from seed, especially Ficus trees.  She recently sent me two  Ficus destruens saplings.  This tree is sometimes called "Rusty Fig" for the color of it's new leaves and twigs, which emerge with an orangy hue.  The leaves are elliptic to lanceolate.  This tree is endemic to Australia, where it grows in wet tropical rainforest.  The figs on this tree are orange or red.

Here is one of my little saplings.

f_destruens
Ficus destruens
The leaves have a very unique look and leathery texture.  You can see the speckling in the picture below.

f_destruens_leaf
Ficus destruens leaf
Update [2010-09-30]:  My friend who sent the seedlings just sent me a picture of a more mature Ficus destruens, which shows the colors even better than my little saplings.

f_destruens_mature
Older Ficus destruens, showing more color

3 comments:

  1. Nice size and looks very healthy---great that it was grown from a seed!

    ReplyDelete
  2. How is it going with the Ficus destruens? any updates?
    I am growing F. bengalensis and F. religiosa from seed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Stefano-

    My F. destruens is doing reasonably well. All of my plants are wishing it was cooler, since it has been over 100 36 days this summer! But it's trucking along and growing bit by bit. Good luck with your Ficus seedlings.

    ReplyDelete