Pink Figs - But Only For a Short Time!

Simon Goodwin, who took this shot of our pink-leaved fig against the Sydney backdrop on Friday, says the spectacular colour will last only a few days.

I'll take a look tomorrow morning - on my leisurely way to the ‘Slow Food Bush Tucker Picnic’ in the Royal Botanic Gardens (which I’ll post about a little later) - but thought I better post this post haste.

The fig in question is called Ficus sur, from tropical and southern Africa and a few nearby islands. It was once known as Ficus capensis, a reference to its presence on the southern Cape, and Sur is a region in Ethiopia.

Its common name is the Broom Cluster Fig, a reference to the bunches of fruits borne along the stem and apparently sometimes even arising out of the ground from roots.

Ficus sur is one of the ‘non-autumn’ deciduous trees I talked about previously, and following a few leafless weeks it’s about to return to full foliage. But first we get this colourful display captured by Simon.