Ficus americana

Taxobox
name = "Ficus americana"

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image_width = 250px
image_caption = "Ficus americana"
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo = Urticales
familia = Moraceae
genus = "Ficus"
species = "F. americana"
binomial = "Ficus americana"
binomial_authority = Aubl.
synonyms ="Ficus perforata" L. "Ficus andicola" Standl. "Ficus archeri" Standl. "Ficus chaponensis" Dugand "Ficus chiribiquetensis" Dugand "Ficus chiriquiana" (Miq.) Miq. "Ficus chocoensis" Dugand "Ficus clusiifolia" Schott "Ficus corpulenta" Pittier "Ficus cundinamarcensis" Dugand "Ficus erratica" Standl. "Ficus estanislana" Dugand "Ficus eugeniifolia" (Liebm.) Hemsl. "Ficus fadyenii" Miq. "Ficus georgii" Standl. & L.O. Williams "Ficus gleasonii" Standl. "Ficus greiffiana" Dugand "Ficus grenadensis" Warb. "Ficus guianensis" Desv. "Ficus jacquiniifolia" A.Rich. "Ficus lehmannii" Standl. "Ficus liebmanniana" (Miq.) Miq. "Ficus machetana" Dugand "Ficus maitin" Pittier "Ficus maroana" Pittier "Ficus martinii" Miq. "Ficus mathewsii " Miq.) Miq. "Ficus mensalis" Standl. "Ficus metensis" Dugand "Ficus myriasycea" Pittier "Ficus niceforoi" Dugand "Ficus oblanceolata" Rusby "Ficus oerstediana" (Miq.) Miq. "Ficus omphalophora" Warb. "Ficus ovalifolia" Pittier "Ficus parkeriana" (Miq.) Sandwith "Ficus popayanensis" Standl. "Ficus rigidifolia" Pittier "Ficus sintenisii" Warb. "Ficus soatensis" Dugand "Ficus soatensis" Dugand var. "bogotensis" Dugand "Ficus sprucei" Standl. "Ficus subapiculata" (Miq.) Miq. "Ficus umbonigera" Warb. "Ficus vaupesana" Dugand "Ficus wilsonii" Warb. "Pharmacosycea parkeriana" Miq. "Urostigma eugeniaefolium" Liebm. "Urostigma chiriquianum" Miq. "Urostigma liebmannianum" Miq. "Urostigma mathewsii" Miq. "Urostigma oerstedianum" Miq. "Urostigma subapiculatum" Miq.cite journal | quotes = no | last = Berg | first = C.C. | year = 2007 | month = | title = Proposals for treating four species complexes in "Ficus" subgenus "Urostigma" section "Americanae" (Moraceae) | journal = Blumea | volume = 52 | issue = 2 | pages = 295–312 | url = http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/nhn/blumea/2007/00000052/00000002/art00006?token=00461ab829403edad7383a4b3b257b6e7b7524736a383b4979542a72752d7b26f17bf6 ] -----Uncertain species [Berg notes: "The quality of the types for [these] names ... is such that their identity remains uncertain."] "Ficus anacardiifolia" Kunth & C.D. Bouché "Ficus arbutifolia" Link "Ficus consanguinea" Kunth & C.D. Bouché "Ficus fresnoensis" Dugand "Ficus periplocifolia" Kunth & C.D. Bouché "Ficus splendens" Kunth & C.D. Bouché

"Ficus americana", commonly known as the West Indian laurel fig, or Jamaican cherry figcite web|url=http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=FIAM|title= "Ficus americana" Aubl. |accessdate= 2008-07-05|author= USDA, NRCS|work= The PLANTS Database|publisher= National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA] is a tree in the family Moraceae which is native to the Caribbean, Mexico in the north, through Central and South America south to southern Brazil. It is an introduced species in Florida, USA. The species is variable; the five recognised subspecies were previously placed in a large number of other species.

Description

"Ficus americana" is a shrub or tree which grows up to 30 m (100 ft) tall. DeWolf, Gordon P., Jr. 1960. Ficus (Tourn.) L. "In" Lorin I. Nevling, Jr., [http://www.jstor.org/pss/2394704 Flora of Panama. Part IV. Fascicle II] . "Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden", 47 (2):81-203]

Taxonomy

With about 750 species, "Ficus" (Moraceae) is one of the largest angiosperm genera. (David Frodin of Chelsea Physic Garden ranked it as the 31st largest genus.)cite journal | quotes = no | last = Frodin | first = David G. | year = 2004 | month = | title = History and concepts of big plant genera | journal = Taxon | volume = 53 | issue = 3 | pages = 753–76 | url = http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iapt/tax/2004/00000053/00000003/art00012| doi = 10.2307/4135449 ] "Ficus americana" is classified in the subgenus "Urostigma" (the strangler figs) and the section "Americana". Recent molecular phylogenies have shown that subgenus "Urostigma" is polyphyletic, but have strongly supported the validity of section "Americana" as a discrete group (although its exact relationship to section "Galoglychia" is unclear).cite journal | quotes = no | last = Rønsted | first = N. | coauthors = Weiblen, G. D.; Clement, W. L.; Zerega, N. J. C.; Savolainen, V. | year = 2008 | month = | title = Reconstructing the phylogeny of figs (Ficus, Moraceae) to reveal the history of the fig pollination mutualism | journal = Symbiosis | volume = 45 | issue = 1–3 | pages = 45–56 | url = http://geo.cbs.umn.edu/RonstedEtAl2008a.pdf ]

Both Aublet and Linnaeus published descriptions of this species in 1775, basing them on an illustration of Charles Plumier's published posthumously in "Plantarum americanarum, quas olim Carolus Plumierus detexit"(Amsterdam, 1755-1760). There is uncertainty was to which version was published first; since the first-published description has priority, there was confusion as to which was the proper name for the species—"F. americana" Aubl. or "F. perforata" L. To resolve this, Cornelis Berg proposed in 2003 that Aublet's name be conserved over Linnaeus', since it was more widely used.cite journal | quotes = no | last = Berg | first = Cornelis C. | year = 2003 | month = May | title = (1587–1590) Proposals to conserve the names "Ficus citrifolia" against "F. caribaea", "F. maxima" with a conserved type, "F. aurea" against "F. ciliolosa", and "F. americana" against "F. perforata" (Moraceae) | journal = Taxon | volume = 52 | issue = 2 | pages = 368–370 | doi = | url = http://www.jstor.org/pss/3647421 ] This proposal was accepted "after lengthy discussion".cite journal | quotes = no | last = Brummitt | first = R.K. | year = 2005 | month = November | title = Report of the Committee for Spermatophyta: 57 | journal = Taxon | volume = 54 | issue = 4 | pages = 1093–1103 ]

Five subspecies are currently recognised: "F. americana" Aubl. subsp. "americana", "F. americana" Aubl. subsp. "andicola" (Standl.) C.C. Berg, "F. americana" Aubl. subsp. "greiffiana" (Dugand) C.C. Berg, "F. americana" Aubl. subsp. "guianensis" (Desv.) C.C. Berg, and "F. americana" Aubl. subsp. "subapiculata" (Miq.) C.C. Berg.

Reproduction

Figs have an obligate mutualism with fig wasp (Agaonidae); figs are only pollinated by fig wasps, and fig wasps can only reproduce in fig flowers. Generally, each fig species depends on a single species of wasp for pollination. The wasps are similarly dependent on their fig species in order to reproduce.

Figs in section "Americana" of subgenus "Urostigma" are pollinated by wasps in the genus "Pegoscapus". "Pegoscapus clusiifolidis" was described from "Ficus clusiifolia"cite journal | quotes = no | last = Schiffler | first = Gustavo | coauthors = Celso Oliviera Azevedo, Ricardo Kawada | year = 2002 | title = Agaonidae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) associados a sicônios de "Ficus clusiifolia" (Moraceae) da restinga de Três Praias, Guarapari, Espírito Santo, Brasil | journal = Boletim do Museu de Biologia Mello Leitao | volume = 14 | pages = 5–12 | url = http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/resources/research-curation/projects/chalcidoids/pdf/SchiffAzKa2002.pdf ] (a synonym of "F. americana"). Another study refers to "P. insularis" as the pollinator of "F. perforata"cite journal | quotes = no | last = Molbo | first = Drude | coauthors = Carlos A. Machado, Jan G. Sevenster, Laurent Keller, Edward Allen Herre | year = 2003 | title = Cryptic species of fig-pollinating wasps: Implications for the evolution of the fig–wasp mutualism, sex allocation, and precision of adaptation | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA | volume = 100 | issue = 10 | pages = 5867–72 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0930903100 ] (another synonym of "F. americana"). That study also found that "P. insularis" represented a cryptic species complex.

Distribution

"Ficus americana" is found throughout the Caribbean, from the Bahamas south to Trinidad and Tobago. It occurs in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. It has been introduced to Florida, USA and has escaped from cultivation.cite web|url= http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233500646|title= Ficus americana Aublet, Hist. Pl. Guiane. 952. 1775.|accessdate= 2008-07-05|work= Flora of North America|publisher= eFloras.org]

Ecology

Figs are sometimes considered to be potential keystone species in communities of fruit-eating animals; their asynchronous fruiting patterns may cause them to be important fruit sources when other food sources are scarce.cite book|last=Terborgh|first=John|editor=Michael E. Soulé (ed.)|title=Conservation Biology: The Science of Scarcity and Diversity|year=1986|publisher=Sinauer Associates|location=Sunderland, Massachusetts|language=|isbn=978-0878937950|pages=330–344|chapter=Keystone plant resources in the tropical forests] At Tinigua National Park in Colombia "Ficus americana" was an important fruit producer during periods of fruit scarcity in two of three years. This led Colombian ecologist Pablo Stevens to consider it a potential keystone species at that site.cite book|last=Stevenson|first=Pablo|editor=J. Lawrence Dew and Jean Philippe Boubli (eds.)|title= Tropical Fruits and Frugivores: The Search for Strong Interactors|year=2005|publisher=Springer Netherlands|isbn=978-1-4020-3833-4|doi=10.1007/1-4020-3833-X|pages=37–57|chapter=Potential Keystone Plant Species for the Frugivore Community at Tinigua Park, Colombia]

The interaction between figs and fig wasps is especially well-known (see section on reproduction, above). In addition to their pollinators, "Ficus" species are exploited by a group of non-pollinating chalcidoid wasps whose larvae develop in its figs. Both pollinating and non-pollinating wasps serve as hosts for parasitoid wasps.cite book|last=Kjellberg|first=Finn|coauthors=Emmanuelle Jousselin, Martine Hossaert-McKey, Jean-Yves Rasplus|editor=A. Raman, Carl W. Schaefer, Toni M. Withers (eds.)|title=Biology, Ecology, and Evolution of Gall-inducing Arthropods|year=2005|publisher=Science publishers, Inc.|location=Enfield (NH) USA, Plymouth, UK|isbn=978-1-57808-262-9|pages=539–572|chapter=Biology, ecology and evolution of fig-pollinating wasps (Chalcidoidea, Agaonidae)|chapterurl=http://www.cefe.cnrs.fr/coev/pdf/fk/Kjellberg2005book.pdf] In addition to "Pegoscapus" pollinators, non-pollinating wasps belonging to the genera "Heterandrium", "Aepocerus" and "Idarnes" were found in "F. americana" figs in Brazil.

References