"Sacha" wrote in message
Nice to be home but returning with a query. In a small public park in
Devonport near Auckland, NZ, we saw a tree that is entirely new to us
called
(I think) Morton Bay fig. This seems to be Ficus macrophylla but is this
the same tree? Can any Kiwis confirm that ID? We were told it's
ornamental
and the fruit is eaten only by monkeys in its original home of.....?! The
leaves look similar to some form of Magnolia and Ray heard someone tell
his
friends that's what it is - but it isn't. Is it? ;-))

If the fruit is eaten by monkeys, then I doubt that it would be a Moreton
Bay Fig (note spelling of Moreton) because there are no monkeys in Australia
(at least not the non human type monkeys).

The Moreton Bay Fig gets it's name from the bay in Brisbane. It's
humungeous. The fruit is edible apparently and was bush tucker for
Aboringinals. Don't bother going here unless you're really keen as I'll
retype what it says (
http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:...lnk&cd=8&gl=au )

"Moreton Bay fig (ficus macrophylla and Port Jackson Fig (Ficus
rubiginosa) - fruit eaten when ripe, milky sap used to cover wounds, while
the bark was used to produce string for dillybags and nets, the wood was
used for shields and canoes."

There are other edible figs such as the Sandpaper fig, the Rock fig, etc.

What did it look like?