Home Flora Palaestina
Home Page
Name Search
Family List
Generic List
Species List
Ficus sycomorus L. Search in The Plant ListSearch in IPNISearch in Australian Plant Name IndexSearch in NYBG Virtual HerbariumSearch in Muséum national d'Histoire naturelleSearch in Type Specimen Register of the U.S. National HerbariumSearch in Virtual Herbaria AustriaSearch in JSTOR Plant ScienceSearch in SEINetSearch in African Plants Database at Geneva Botanical GardenAfrican Plants, Senckenberg Photo GallerySearch in Flora do Brasil 2020Search in Reflora - Virtual HerbariumSearch in Living Collections Decrease font Increase font Restore font
 

Published In: Species Plantarum 1: 1059. 1753. (1 May 1753) (Sp. Pl.) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 9/26/2011)
Acceptance : Accepted
Project data     (Last Modified On 2/16/2012)
Nomenclature:

3. Ficus sycomorus L., Sp. P1. 1059 (1753); Boiss., F1. Orient. 4: 1155 (1879). Type: Comoro Islands, Anjouan, Hilderbrandt 1650 (B). [Plate 34a]

Common name:

Sycomore Fig; פיקוס השקמה, שקמה

Habitat:

Mostly cultivated. Spontaneous populations are common along water coarses and springs descending to the Jordan Rift Valley. Acco Plain (rare), Sharon Plain, Philistean Plain, Shefela, W. Negev, Upper and Lower Jordan Valleys.

Area distribution:

Native in Ethiopia, Yemen and found elsewhere in Trop. E. Africa.

Notes:

     Once extensively grown both in the coastal plain and in the Jordan Valley. Individuals and groups of these showy and aged trees still occur in several localities and also in coastal towns and on dunes. It does not produce viable seeds but is easily propagated by cuttings. Ornamental tree in gardens and boulevards.

     Famed for its durable timber which was used for sarcophagi in ancient Egypt, Palestine and elsewhere. This is the שקמה of the Bible.


 

Export To PDF Export To Word

     Tree, 8-20 m.; crown broadly ovoid to flat and umbrella-like. Leaves usually 10-20 cm., persistent (but deciduous in cold winters), leathery, ovate-subcordate, obtuse, undivided, glabrous above and somewhat hairy beneath, especially along nerves. Figs about 2 cm., usually depressed-globular, crowded on tortuous leafless short twigs arising from the trunks or older branches. Mature figs edible, somewhat watery and insipid as compared with the cultivated fig; several crops are produced during the year. F1. Summer.

 
 
© 2024 Missouri Botanical Garden - 4344 Shaw Boulevard - Saint Louis, Missouri 63110