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''Ficus macrophylla'', commonly known as the Moreton Bay fig, is a large evergreen banyan tree of the family Moraceae that is a native of most of the eastern coast of Australia, from the Atherton Tableland (17° S) in the north to the Illawarra (34° S) in New South Wales, and Lord Howe Island. Its common name is derived from Moreton Bay in Queensland, Australia. It is best known for its beautiful buttress roots. As ''Ficus macrophylla'' is a strangler fig, seed germination usually takes place in the canopy of a host tree and the seedling lives as an epiphyte until its roots establish contact with the ground. It then enlarges and strangles its host, eventually becoming a freestanding tree by itself. Individuals may reach 60 m (200 ft) in height. Like all figs, it has an obligate mutualism with fig wasps; figs are only pollinated by fig wasps, and fig wasps can only reproduce in fig flowers. ''Ficus macrophylla'' is widely used as a feature tree in public parks and gardens in warmer climates such as California, Portugal, Italy (Sicily, Sardinia and Liguria), northern New Zealand (Auckland), and Australia. Old specimens can reach tremendous size. Its aggressive root system allows its use in only the largest private gardens. ==Taxonomy== Christiaan Hendrik Persoon published a description of the Moreton Bay fig in his 1807 ''Synopsis Plantarum'', the material having been described by French botanist René Louiche Desfontaines. The type specimen has been lost but was possibly located in Florence. The specific epithet ''macrophylla'' is derived from the Ancient Greek ''makro'' "large" and ''phyllon'' "leaf", and refers to the size of the leaves.〔 Charles Moore described ''Ficus columnaris'' in 1870 from material collected from Lord Howe Island, choosing the species name from the Latin ''columnaris'' for the column-like roots. English botanist E. J. H. Corner reduced this to synonymy with ''F. macrophylla'' in 1965, before P.S. Green noted it was distinct enough in its morphology for subspecies status in 1986. Australian botanist Dale J. Dixon reviewed material and felt the differences too minor to warrant subspecific status,〔 and recognised two forms: ''Ficus macrophylla'' f. ''macrophylla'', a free-standing tree which is endemic to mainland Australia and ''Ficus macrophylla'' f. ''columnaris'', a hemiepiphyte without a distinct main trunk, which is endemic to Lord Howe Island. The species is generally commonly known as the Moreton Bay fig,〔 after Moreton Bay in southern Queensland, although it is found elsewhere. The term has also been mistakenly generalised to other fig species in Australia. An alternate name—black fig—is derived from the dark colour of the ageing bark. With over 750 species, ''Ficus'' is one of the largest angiosperm genera. Based on morphology, Corner divided the genus into four subgenera;〔 later expanded to six. In this classification, the Moreton Bay fig was placed in subseries ''Malvanthereae'', series ''Malvanthereae'', section ''Malvanthera'' of the subgenus ''Urostigma''. In his reclassification of the Australian ''Malvanthera'', Dixon altered the delimitations of the series within the section, but left this species in series ''Malvanthereae''.〔 In 2005, Cornelis Berg completed Corner's treatment of the Moraceae for the ''Flora Malesiana''; the completion of that work had been delayed since 1972 as a result of disagreements between Corner and C. J. J. G. van Steenis, editor of the ''Flora Malesiana''. Berg combined sections ''Stilpnophyllum'' and ''Malvanthera'' into an expanded section ''Stilpnophyllum''. This left the Moreton Bay fig in subsection ''Malvanthera'', section ''Stilpnophyllum''.〔 Based on DNA sequences from the nuclear ribosomal internal and external transcribed spacers, Nina Rønsted and colleagues rejected previous subdivisions of the ''Malvanthera''. Instead, they divided section ''Malvanthera'' into three subsections—''Malvantherae'', ''Platypodeae'' and ''Hesperidiiformes''. In this system, the Moreton Bay fig is in the new subsection ''Malvantherae'', along with ''F. pleurocarpa''. The ''Malvantherae'' appear to be an early offshoot and basal to the group. Both forms are native to Australia, with form ''columnaris'' of ''macrophylla'' having colonised Lord Howe Island. Ronsted and colleagues suggest this last form might be the most ancient of the three taxa.〔 The section ''Malvanthera'' itself is thought to have evolved 41 million years ago and radiated from 35 million years ago.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ficus macrophylla」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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