FICUS POLITA, HEART-LEAVED FIG TREE - 10 SEED PACK - IN SOUTH AFRICA

Ficus is a pan-tropical genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Ficus occupies a wide variety of ecological niches; most are evergreen, but some deciduous species are endemic to areas outside of the tropics and to higher elevations. Fig species are characterized by their unique inflorescence and distinctive pollination syndrome, which utilizes wasp species belonging to the Agaonidae family for pollination. The fruit of most species are edible though they are usually of only local economic importance or eaten as bushfood. However, they are extremely important food resources for wildlife. Figs are also of considerable cultural importance throughout the tropics, both as objects of worship and for their many practical uses.            Ficus polita commonly known as Heart-leaved Fig, Wild Rubber Fig or Wild Rubber Tree in English; Hartblaarvy, Rubberplant or Wilde-rubbervy in Afrikaans and Umkhiwane or Umphumela in Zulu is a South African indigenous species with a provincial distribution which extends to the KwaZulu-Natal Province where it is found in lowland rainforest and gallery forest (west and central Africa), coastal & dry forest (east and southern Africa), up to an altitude of 1200m. The edible fruit that are produced by these trees attract a great diversity of wildlife to the garden from birds to bats and a variety of insects.