This week I have managed to leave the nursery section with the gorgeous Sandpaper Fig - which is temporarily living inside, on top of my fridge! A new thing I'm trying lately, especially when purchasing fruit trees or Natives, is choosing something I know nothing about and have never tried. It keeps me on my toes and gives me some element of surprise. Buying this way also means that I'm buying a plant based on impulse and 'feeling' and not a well researched position which is a nice change - I do more than enough pre-research when it comes to seeds!
Getting it home was a fun, I placed it in a string bag and slung it over my shoulder then had to walk through a shopping center before I caught the bus (I'm surprised they actually let me on with this big guy!) and as it's the school holidays children everywhere were asking "Mum, why is that lady carrying a tree on her back" and shouting out "I like your tree!"
So when I arrived home afterwards, I was excited to read all about it and watch videos, especially on how First Nations peoples have and continue to use it.
The name Sandpaper Fig comes from the Sandpaper-like texture of the leaves. Each leaf is covered in small rough bumps all over, front and back. When you look closely your can make these out. Similar bumps are also on the trunk.
Although the Sandpaper Fig is Native to Parts of Queensland and Eastern NSW, mainly growing along the waterways it is also widespread on the tablelands. I have the perfect little micro-climate in my garden to give it a go.
From what I found, it is a tough plant which has also adapted to survive in a variety of different environments from Gullies, Creeks and Rainforests, to open plains and even rocky sheltered areas. Using aerial roots it evolved in order to germinate and grow in these areas, it reaches down from the branches to the ground while taking in nutrients and moisture from the air.
The Sandpaper Fig's hardiness means that it is able to cope with poor soil and low light. It is also cold tolerant and can cope with heavy pruning and low attention/tending to. What a champ!
Like most plants however, Sandpaper figs must be protected from harsh weather when young. As it was particularly cold this weekend, I have bought my little one inside. We have a lingering low pressure system and are just coming out of a cold season. Brrrr!
Although I'm tempted to, I won't be keeping it inside forever though as this little guy has the potential to grow 6m - 12m tall, with a spread of 3m to 6m! Besides, it can't be pollinated while inside.
Currently I have the Ficus Coronata in it's nursery pot, and wish to keep it potted, so am glad to read that it doesn't have quite the massive root system that most other figs come with, but if I ever put it in the Earth I would need 5m clearance from buildings, fences, pipes etc.
As is the case with many Ficus varieties, the Sandpaper Fig has a weeping habit, which I love in a tree. This means that it will make for an excellent shade tree both for my family and the other plants in the garden.
A great little fact I found is that the growing of Sandpaper Figs along waterways means the stabilisation of the banks of those waterways, that is, this tree prevents erosion.
In looking for what relationships between the Ficus Coronata and animals exists I found that it is a host plant for the Larvae of the Common crow (Euploea core) butterfly, which lays it's eggs on trees with milky sap like this one. When the caterpillars hatch, they use the milky sap of the tree to feed upon, eating the leaf and soft stem parts, which sounds as though it could be potentially damaging to the tree. As the Euploea core is widespread in the North, it may not be something that I will see or need to address.
Being a Ficus, the Sandpaper Fig is able to be propagated in the same ways, by cutting or aerial layering as well as by seed. When it begins to mature and/or fruit I will be trying different propagation methods.
My people are not from where the Sandpaper Fig grows so I had no idea how the various First Nations people of eastern Queensland, Victoria and even the Northern Territory used this tree.
The fruits were and are, of course, eaten raw and others were beaten to make a paste and then mixed with honey and water. The outside of the fruit is super hairy so the fruit needs to be peeled well!
It is said that some that the leaves were actually used as Sandpaper, others saying that the leaves aren't strong enough. It's possible that Native peoples found a way to utilise them as a strong sandpaper regardless, maybe even finding a way to strengthen the leaves. I also suspect that as the tree matures, the leaves become more coarse and stronger and that there are therefore leaves of differing coarseness and strength. At the very least the leaves were used to finish and polish the surfaces of tools made from Native woods, like Blue Quandong. After hearing this, I tried out the leaves on some pine, they are not unlike the lighter sandpapers we now use to provide a softer, more finished surface on wood. My tree would only be a year or two old, so the leaves may get tougher as they become older.
The milky latex of young shoots is traditionally used to heal and seal open wounds as well as for fungal conditions like ringworm - the skin would be rubbed with the Sandpaper Fig leaves until raw so that the infected tissue was removed, the sap would then be applied to kill off any remaining infection or spores, and to seal the wound, protecting it from any further infection. The leaves were also used alongside Stinking Passionfruit flower in order to relieve the bites of insects. Using the leaves, the skin would be rubbed until it bled, then the passion flower would be applied.
As if that wasn't enough uses - the inner bark of the Sandpaper Fig was stripped off as a string which would have then been used to make tools like nets and traps!
As this tree is a species of fig it is pollinated by particular co-dependent species of fig wasp.
For those who aren't aware in an interesting and symbiotic relationship the fig wasp is the only one who can pollinate the fig tree. This starts with the fig wasp mating inside the fig flower and wasps being born - a female who recognises the special scent of the exact species of fig tree where she was born returns to the species of tree. She will then enter the fig by squeezing through a small hole right near the top of the fruit, called an ostiole. As she goes through the hole, she will lose some of her wings and antennae, eventually dying after she lays her eggs inside the fruit. From anywhere to 20-100 days later, the male offspring are born, who are born without wings, mate with the female offspring, then after boring a hole out through the fruit in order to leave, die. The female offspring collect the ripe pollen of a flower and carry it to another fig of the same species. To add to all this, the fruit is signalled to ripen after the wasp has bored the hole in the fig - the carbon dioxide level of the interior of the fruit will lessen, and delicious fruit will then be produced. Incredible. Fingers crossed that all this can occur for my tree.
The fruit is very sweet, ripening from January to June. Countless taste testers have stated that the fruit from the Sandpaper Fig is the best tasting native fruit they have ever tasted, hands down
The fruit of the Ficus Coronata forms on the trunk - which is termed 'Cauliflory' much like another East native, the Mullimbimby Plum
The fruit are fairly small at 2cm, and start off as green colour which then ripens to a dark purple, hence another popular name 'Purple Fig'. It can be consumed in much the same manner as other figs - eaten fresh after the removal of the skin, dried and preserved then consumed at a later date (aha, I can put my new food dehydrator to good use) and you can even make jam out of them if you have enough! Jam makers have said that this fruit has a naturally high pectin level, meaning when I eventually make some, I won't need to add any pectin, only a sweetener and fruit.
The special thing about the fruit is that it doesn't keep that well for marketing and shipping and therefore is rare if you don't have a abundance of trees nearby, as it is highly unlikely to be sold en-masse in supermarkets and grocers.
I quite enjoyed buying and then researching this amazingly hardy and versatile tree. I must admit that I am in awe of how the Ficus Coronata meets a variety of needs from the more obvious food, shade and a home for insects, to the like string for netting and traps, as well as a way to sand and polish tools.