Sycamore Fig Tree

 
Setswana Name:  Mochaba
 
Botanical Name: 

Ficus sycomorus

 
Family:

Fig Family (Moraceae)
 

The Sycamore fig tree is probably the best-known of all wild figs and certainly one of the most spectacular trees to be found in the Okavango Delta.
 
It is a massive tree, achieving heights of up to 20m, although this is often underestimated because of its sturdy trunk. The most distinguishing characteristic is certainly the deeply fluted stem with the bright orange bark. The stem forms flattened buttresses that reinforce the tree, making it impossible for an elephant to uproot.
 
This spectacular tree is home to a host of insects, reptiles, rodents and birds – many of which we will never see. The natural holes and crevices formed by the fluted stems are often inhabited by reptiles, rodents and even warthog on occasion. The feast of figs it produces all year round is a source of food for all the savanna inhabitants from monkeys in the branches to impala and warthog eating the fallen fruit on the ground.
It is also a favourite food of green pigeons, brown-headed parrots, hornbills, barbets and rollers.

 
The plum-like fruit, borne in dense cluster on the main stem and thick branches, is green to yellow- brown, turning pinkish when ripe. Fruit ripens throughout the year, and up to four crops can be produced by the trees annually
 
Although it is a semi-deciduous tree it is seldom leafless, because new leaves appear before the old ones have been shed. The rough, round leaves are reminiscent of mulberry leaves. The bark and twigs of this species, as well as those of all other fig trees, contain a milky latex.
 

Pollination of the Sycamore fig tree is done by a small wasp. During millions of years of development a fascinating process between the fig species and a series of wasp species developed, resulting in every fig species having a specific wasp species as its pollinator.
 

Sycamore fig trees usually grow near water, forming a distinctive component of the riverine thicket, but they are also found in mixed woodland.