Scientific
name
Ficus vasta1
Family name
Moraceae
Local name(s)
Warka
(Amargna), Maraito (Afargna), Daero (Tigrigna)
General description
F.
vasta
is a very large tree growing over 25m tall with spreading rounded crown.
Trunk is often buttressed, occasionally an epiphyte. The bark is smooth
and grey. Young branches are thick, with soft dense hairs, 5 - 12mm, yellow-white-brown,
skin flaking when dry. Leaves are quite stiff, elliptic, rough to the touch,
almost circular 8-25 x 4-23cm, tip rounded but often with a blunt point,
base rounded, heart-shaped, leaf stalk 3-12cm, hairy. Leaf stalk is hairy
below with well-marked veins, the 2 outer veins reaching up to the middle
of the leaf, all forked clearly at the edge. Globosely figs are up to 2cm
in diameter and hanging in clusters from the branches. They are green with
pale spots when ripe, hairy, the opening clear.
Edible part(s),
preparation methods and palatability
Fruits
are edible. Fruits are consumed in normal and in food shortage periods.
Mostly the fruits are being collected by children who are able to climb
the tree. Goats, monkeys, baboons, sheep and birds all like the fruits
from this tree. The fruits are either eaten raw or when half or completely
dry, no preparation is necessary. When the fruits are dry, they can be
stored and eaten stewed when there is need. In its wild stage F. vasta
can provide food in food shortage periods.
Agroecology
F.
vasta
is a fig tree of dry north and eastern Africa, the Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia,
Saudi Arabia and into Uganda and Tanzania. The tree is found along rivers
and in dry savannah, often forming stands or thickets and grows in mid-
and highland areas (1,400 – 2,500m). The species is not being domesticated
and is slowly disappearing from the Ethiopian landscape due to firewood
scarcity which is heavily affecting all big tree species alike.
Propagation
method(s)
Propagates
by cuttings, seedlings and wildlings. The seeds are produced in figs in
large numbers. The can be extracted and dried. No treatment necessary and
can be stored up to two months.
Sample location(s)
(1)
Mekane Birhan, Jana Mora Woreda, North Gonder; (2) Ibnat, South Gonder;
(3) Belessa, North Gonder
Remarks
Other
uses of the species are firewood, timber for utensils, furniture and carvings.
1 Parts
of the following description have been taken from Bein et al., 1996: p.
216/217
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