10. Deciduous Fig
Ficus subpisocarpa
Like the other Ficus species around our Club, the deciduous fig is a member of the Fig family (Moraceae). But unlike its sister species, it is deciduous and usually content with just one trunk. The tree has its own relatively unusual way of being deciduous; it can shed its leaves two to four times a year and replacement foliage takes only a couple of weeks to appear (Cheung K-W, personal communications).
Attractively, the leaves can become golden before falling. The bark is grey or reddish brown and is rough with scales, cracks and vertical bumps. The mature fig fruit develops into a purplish globe with light-coloured dots as what seems to be a display to attract the dispersal agents, birds. Its leaves are larger and the veins more obvious when contrasted with our Banyans, but try as it might, it never quite reaches the big tree stature of Chinese Banyan!
Ficus subpisocarpa
Like the other Ficus species around our Club, the deciduous fig is a member of the Fig family (Moraceae). But unlike its sister species, it is deciduous and usually content with just one trunk. The tree has its own relatively unusual way of being deciduous; it can shed its leaves two to four times a year and replacement foliage takes only a couple of weeks to appear (Cheung K-W, personal communications).
Attractively, the leaves can become golden before falling. The bark is grey or reddish brown and is rough with scales, cracks and vertical bumps. The mature fig fruit develops into a purplish globe with light-coloured dots as what seems to be a display to attract the dispersal agents, birds. Its leaves are larger and the veins more obvious when contrasted with our Banyans, but try as it might, it never quite reaches the big tree stature of Chinese Banyan!