[A question has arisen whether there are other species of Figs which send down adventitious roots in a similar manner to those known as Banyan trees, found in India and elsewhere, and which become gradually elongated, increasing in firmness and strength, until reaching the ground they take a firm root, and become distinct trunks or supports to the parent tree. Baron von Mueller, of Melbourne, directed my attention to this fact by inquiring if I had observed this peculiarity of growth in the common New South Wales Fig, Ficus australis or rubiginosa. It has, however, often been seen in the Moreton Bay Fig (Ficus macrophylla), Baron von Mueller says:— “Is there any state of the Ficus australis in Illawarra or elsewhere in New South Wales producing a Banyan-like growth such as occurs in the Ficus columnaris of Howe’s Island?”1]
Ficus australis
Ficus columnaris
Ficus macrophylla
Ficus rubiginosa
Lord Howe Island.
The correspondent is George Bennett, d. 1893. Letter not found. For the text quoted here see Bennett (1877), p. 105. The letter is dated to 1877, on the assumption that Bennett would have written his piece for the Gardeners' chronicle issue of 28 July 1877 soon after M wrote to him and called his attention to a local Fig. It is however odd that M asked about 'Ficus australis' when he had already, in B68.06.03, p. 194, treated this as a synonym of his preferred F. rubiginosa. It is possible that M posed his question considerably earlier, perhaps associated with the picture, captioned F. rubiginosa, that he received with G. Bennett to M, 16 June 1874 (in this edition as 74-06-16a); yet if so, it is difficult to understand why, so long afterwards, Bennett would have quoted him in the way he did.
Please cite as “FVM-77-00-00,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on