On 17/12/08 03:12, in article
, "FarmI"
ask@itshall be given wrote:

"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 woman that owned the last place we stayed in is English but has lived in
NZ for about 20 years. In the 'helpful literature' booklet she called it
that. I can't remember if it was she who said the bit about the monkeys or
someone else living in Devonport.

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:...e.edu.au/schoo
l/curric/stage4_5/nativeplants/native_plants.ppt+%22ficus+rubiginosa%22+fruit&
hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=au )

Thanks for all that! I had no idea how many of those things had some food
or medicinal value.

"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?



Here are 3 pics Ray took:

http://i43.tinypic.com/211q5qb.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/14k9oit.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/1zqeet3.jpg

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)

"Sacha" wrote in message 01.iinet.net.au,
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote:

What did it look like?

Here are 3 pics Ray took:

http://i43.tinypic.com/211q5qb.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/14k9oit.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/1zqeet3.jpg

You might also try posting those pics to the aus.gardens group and asking
there.

As the first pic was downloading, there was a lot of detail of the trunk and
there was a section of the trunk that had that flowing aerial root
downdrooping strangler look to it that some of the fig family has and in
fact one of the Moreton Bay forms IIRC.

I don't know much about figs as they won't grow in my area but some of the
Oz groups people do live in hotter climes and one of them is very
knowledegable about all things plant related so it might be worth your while
asking there.

On 17/12/08 23:28, in article
, "FarmI"
ask@itshall be given wrote:

"Sacha" wrote in message 01.iinet.net.au,
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote:

What did it look like?

Here are 3 pics Ray took:

http://i43.tinypic.com/211q5qb.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/14k9oit.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/1zqeet3.jpg

You might also try posting those pics to the aus.gardens group and asking
there.

As the first pic was downloading, there was a lot of detail of the trunk and
there was a section of the trunk that had that flowing aerial root
downdrooping strangler look to it that some of the fig family has and in
fact one of the Moreton Bay forms IIRC.

I don't know much about figs as they won't grow in my area but some of the
Oz groups people do live in hotter climes and one of them is very
knowledegable about all things plant related so it might be worth your while
asking there.



Thanks for all that. I'm not going to bother them because the people living
around there were content that this is what this tree is and because we're
not likely to grow it in the garden here! What struck us at first was the
similarity to its leaves and some magnolia types. It's a beautiful tree and
the size of these was amazing. I imagine its growth in UK would be a bit
like that of Callistemons - in NZ we saw specimens of those that were at
least 15 to 20 feet tall. For a second or three I didn't quite realise what
I was looking at! And as for the lupins........we're told they're
pestiferous weeds there but when you see yellow tree lupins growing wild on
the side of the roads for miles and miles and drive past 3 miles of valley
filled with Russell lupins of every hue it's hard to think of them as
anything but a glory. Their scent filled our car and we were enchanted by
them. And then there's the Cytisus which has run mad everywhere and the dog
roses, too. What a wonderful place!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)

Just had a look at the pics Sacha. While No.2 shows what appears to
be typical Ficus macrophylla trunk and 'butressing', the foliage and
fruits in No.3 are not F. macrophylla. I've had a ferret about and
found this pic of typical fruiting macrophylla material:
http://plantarium.files.wordpress.co...acrophylla.jpg
You can see that foliage and fruits are significantly different. I
don't know what No.3 is, but I do know it isn't Ficus macrophylla.

On 19/12/08 01:20, in article
, "Dave
Poole" wrote:

Just had a look at the pics Sacha. While No.2 shows what appears to
be typical Ficus macrophylla trunk and 'butressing', the foliage and
fruits in No.3 are not F. macrophylla. I've had a ferret about and
found this pic of typical fruiting macrophylla material:
http://plantarium.files.wordpress.co...acrophylla.jpg
You can see that foliage and fruits are significantly different. I
don't know what No.3 is, but I do know it isn't Ficus macrophylla.


Thanks, David, though the mystery deepens! Perhaps someone from Australia
or NZ will see this.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)

On 19/12/08 11:50, in article ,
"Sacha" wrote:

On 19/12/08 01:20, in article
, "Dave
Poole" wrote:

Just had a look at the pics Sacha. While No.2 shows what appears to
be typical Ficus macrophylla trunk and 'butressing', the foliage and
fruits in No.3 are not F. macrophylla. I've had a ferret about and
found this pic of typical fruiting macrophylla material:
http://plantarium.files.wordpress.co...acrophylla.jpg
You can see that foliage and fruits are significantly different. I
don't know what No.3 is, but I do know it isn't Ficus macrophylla.


Thanks, David, though the mystery deepens! Perhaps someone from Australia
or NZ will see this.

Many apologies, I've just realised that the fruit pic is NOT the one Ray
took of the Moreton Bay figs! It was a hedge of some sort down on King
Edward Parade in Devonport, right outside the sailing club, just in case
that helps anyone to ID it We took hundreds of photos of various things and
I've muddled those up! The fruits we saw on the Moreton Bay Fig are exactly
as your pic shows them. Now all I need to find out is what those
'incorrect' fruits really are!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)

--
..
"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 19/12/08 11:50, in article ,
"Sacha" wrote:

On 19/12/08 01:20, in article
, "Dave
Poole" wrote:

Just had a look at the pics Sacha. While No.2 shows what appears to
be typical Ficus macrophylla trunk and 'butressing', the foliage and
fruits in No.3 are not F. macrophylla. I've had a ferret about and
found this pic of typical fruiting macrophylla material:
http://plantarium.files.wordpress.co...acrophylla.jpg
You can see that foliage and fruits are significantly different. I
don't know what No.3 is, but I do know it isn't Ficus macrophylla.


Thanks, David, though the mystery deepens! Perhaps someone from
Australia
or NZ will see this.

Many apologies, I've just realised that the fruit pic is NOT the one Ray
took of the Moreton Bay figs! It was a hedge of some sort down on King
Edward Parade in Devonport, right outside the sailing club, just in case
that helps anyone to ID it We took hundreds of photos of various things
and
I've muddled those up! The fruits we saw on the Moreton Bay Fig are
exactly
as your pic shows them. Now all I need to find out is what those
'incorrect' fruits really are!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)


Bit of advice re photos and their identity if I may. Whilst I am cruising, I
take a lot of photos. We are just about to go on a half world cruise from
Southampton cruising to Singapore. The secret is to down load your photos
every night onto your laptop and let them download to the date, then when
you recall them, you can see where you are, even to the time as that is
recorded on the file.

I have since August 20th, been recording in photographs, the local theatre's
production of "The Snow Queen", Final Night tonight. I can look back and I
know what and where the photos were taken by the date/time. The reading,
Auditions, Rehearsals, Technical, Dress etc etc etc. Somewhere just under
3000 photos and I know EXACTLY which one fits where, because I have the
Director's Rehearsal schedule.

I hope that helps. No more confused photos of fruit which you think is
'this' and turns out to be 'that' :-)))

Mike

--
..
"'Mike'" wrote in message
...


--
.
"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 19/12/08 11:50, in article ,
"Sacha" wrote:

On 19/12/08 01:20, in article
, "Dave
Poole" wrote:

Just had a look at the pics Sacha. While No.2 shows what appears to
be typical Ficus macrophylla trunk and 'butressing', the foliage and
fruits in No.3 are not F. macrophylla. I've had a ferret about and
found this pic of typical fruiting macrophylla material:
http://plantarium.files.wordpress.co...acrophylla.jpg
You can see that foliage and fruits are significantly different. I
don't know what No.3 is, but I do know it isn't Ficus macrophylla.


Thanks, David, though the mystery deepens! Perhaps someone from
Australia
or NZ will see this.

Many apologies, I've just realised that the fruit pic is NOT the one Ray
took of the Moreton Bay figs! It was a hedge of some sort down on King
Edward Parade in Devonport, right outside the sailing club, just in case
that helps anyone to ID it We took hundreds of photos of various things
and
I've muddled those up! The fruits we saw on the Moreton Bay Fig are
exactly
as your pic shows them. Now all I need to find out is what those
'incorrect' fruits really are!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)


Bit of advice re photos and their identity if I may. Whilst I am cruising,
I take a lot of photos. We are just about to go on a half world cruise
from Southampton cruising to Singapore. The secret is to down load your
photos every night onto your laptop and let them download to the date,
then when you recall them, you can see where you are, even to the time as
that is recorded on the file.

I have since August 20th, been recording in photographs, the local
theatre's production of "The Snow Queen", Final Night tonight. I can look
back and I know what and where the photos were taken by the date/time. The
reading, Auditions, Rehearsals, Technical, Dress etc etc etc. Somewhere
just under 3000 photos and I know EXACTLY which one fits where, because I
have the Director's Rehearsal schedule.

I hope that helps. No more confused photos of fruit which you think is
'this' and turns out to be 'that' :-)))

Mike

http://www.apollo-theatre.org.uk/ for those interested :-)

On 20/12/08 10:40, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:



Bit of advice re photos and their identity if I may. Whilst I am cruising, I
take a lot of photos. We are just about to go on a half world cruise from
Southampton cruising to Singapore. The secret is to down load your photos
every night onto your laptop and let them download to the date, then when
you recall them, you can see where you are, even to the time as that is
recorded on the file.

Most digital cameras record the date, time, camera settings of each photo
taken.
Tools for managing these photos, for example Picasa 3, Nikon View etc., allow
you to display this information with each photo.

Laptops on holiday? I don't think so! Reminds me of the poser on the plane
from Bangkok to London. He spent hours tapping away at a laptop and
Blackberry and simultaneously laughing at Friends on the in-flight screen!
And yes, Ray's camera does record the details you mention, Martin. What it
is, as yet, unable to do is identify plants by name. ;-)
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)

In article ,
says...
On 20/12/08 10:40, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:



Bit of advice re photos and their identity if I may. Whilst I am cruising, I
take a lot of photos. We are just about to go on a half world cruise from
Southampton cruising to Singapore. The secret is to down load your photos
every night onto your laptop and let them download to the date, then when
you recall them, you can see where you are, even to the time as that is
recorded on the file.

Most digital cameras record the date, time, camera settings of each photo
taken.
Tools for managing these photos, for example Picasa 3, Nikon View etc., allow
you to display this information with each photo.

Laptops on holiday? I don't think so! Reminds me of the poser on the plane
from Bangkok to London. He spent hours tapping away at a laptop and
Blackberry and simultaneously laughing at Friends on the in-flight screen!
And yes, Ray's camera does record the details you mention, Martin. What it
is, as yet, unable to do is identify plants by name. ;-)

I thought a pro we had photographing the garden this summer had it
cracked as she could speak into her camara as she took the pictures, but
I still got the customary email to ID a few things and correct still
more, my fault, I often attach Clematis labels to the tree or shrub they
are growing on as it never occures to me someone would be unable to tell
what clematis don't look like!
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

On 20/12/08 13:11, in article
, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:

In article ,
says...
snip

Laptops on holiday? I don't think so! Reminds me of the poser on the plane
from Bangkok to London. He spent hours tapping away at a laptop and
Blackberry and simultaneously laughing at Friends on the in-flight screen!
And yes, Ray's camera does record the details you mention, Martin. What it
is, as yet, unable to do is identify plants by name. ;-)

I thought a pro we had photographing the garden this summer had it
cracked as she could speak into her camara as she took the pictures, but
I still got the customary email to ID a few things and correct still
more, my fault, I often attach Clematis labels to the tree or shrub they
are growing on as it never occures to me someone would be unable to tell
what clematis don't look like!

Ray can do that speaking thing with his camera but he always forgets to do
it! Of course, if you're photographing something so that someone else can -
you hope - ID it later, you can talk until you're blue in the face and get
nowhere! As we photographed both the Moreton Bay fig and the mystery fruit
on the same day so both photos show the same date and very close times,
nothing other than a pocket sized NZ plant expert would have helped much
more!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)

On 20/12/08 16:18, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Sat, 20 Dec 2008 15:04:20 +0000, Sacha wrote:

On 20/12/08 13:11, in article
, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:

In article ,
says...
snip

Laptops on holiday? I don't think so! Reminds me of the poser on the
plane
from Bangkok to London. He spent hours tapping away at a laptop and
Blackberry and simultaneously laughing at Friends on the in-flight screen!
And yes, Ray's camera does record the details you mention, Martin. What it
is, as yet, unable to do is identify plants by name. ;-)

I thought a pro we had photographing the garden this summer had it
cracked as she could speak into her camara as she took the pictures, but
I still got the customary email to ID a few things and correct still
more, my fault, I often attach Clematis labels to the tree or shrub they
are growing on as it never occures to me someone would be unable to tell
what clematis don't look like!

Ray can do that speaking thing with his camera but he always forgets to do
it! Of course, if you're photographing something so that someone else can -
you hope - ID it later, you can talk until you're blue in the face and get
nowhere! As we photographed both the Moreton Bay fig and the mystery fruit
on the same day so both photos show the same date and very close times,
nothing other than a pocket sized NZ plant expert would have helped much
more!

Some more weird trees here.
http://seehere.blogspot.com/2006/10/...que-trees.html

I got the following msg: Page not found
Sorry, the page you were looking for in the blog Look At This... does not
exist.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)

On 20/12/08 23:36, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:
snip

Can you see these photos of trees?

http://bp3.blogger.com/_4wnOqNnF8oc/...8gF3E24/s400/2
.jpg
http://bp2.blogger.com/_4wnOqNnF8oc/...EdfyL9s/s400/5
.jpg


Yes, got it as a jpg download. It's a baobab - very weird looking thing but
a wonderful example of nature at work!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)

Somewhere on teh intarwebs "Sacha" typed:
On 19/12/08 11:50, in article
, "Sacha"
wrote:

On 19/12/08 01:20, in article
,
"Dave Poole" wrote:

Just had a look at the pics Sacha. While No.2 shows what appears to
be typical Ficus macrophylla trunk and 'butressing', the foliage and
fruits in No.3 are not F. macrophylla. I've had a ferret about and
found this pic of typical fruiting macrophylla material:
http://plantarium.files.wordpress.co...acrophylla.jpg
You can see that foliage and fruits are significantly different. I
don't know what No.3 is, but I do know it isn't Ficus macrophylla.


Thanks, David, though the mystery deepens! Perhaps someone from
Australia or NZ will see this.

Many apologies, I've just realised that the fruit pic is NOT the one
Ray took of the Moreton Bay figs! It was a hedge of some sort down
on King Edward Parade in Devonport, right outside the sailing club,
just in case that helps anyone to ID it We took hundreds of photos
of various things and I've muddled those up! The fruits we saw on
the Moreton Bay Fig are exactly as your pic shows them. Now all I
need to find out is what those 'incorrect' fruits really are!

Hi Sacha,

I'm pleased to hear you enjoyed your holiday here. :-)

There used to be a Moreton Bay Fig tree in my parents garden. I bought the
"Rubber Plant" for mum as a mother's day gift and, when it got too big for
growing inside she planted it out. However, about 15 years later it got to
be too big for the garden too so had to be felled.

I've studied the fruits in the other pic and, sorry, I can't help you with
identifying them. Then again, I certainly don't profess to be an expert, far
from it in fact. ;-)

Cheers,
--
Shaun.

On 27/12/08 00:36, in article , "~misfit~"
wrote:

Somewhere on teh intarwebs "Sacha" typed:
On 19/12/08 11:50, in article
, "Sacha"
wrote:

On 19/12/08 01:20, in article
,
"Dave Poole" wrote:

Just had a look at the pics Sacha. While No.2 shows what appears to
be typical Ficus macrophylla trunk and 'butressing', the foliage and
fruits in No.3 are not F. macrophylla. I've had a ferret about and
found this pic of typical fruiting macrophylla material:
http://plantarium.files.wordpress.co...acrophylla.jpg
You can see that foliage and fruits are significantly different. I
don't know what No.3 is, but I do know it isn't Ficus macrophylla.


Thanks, David, though the mystery deepens! Perhaps someone from
Australia or NZ will see this.

Many apologies, I've just realised that the fruit pic is NOT the one
Ray took of the Moreton Bay figs! It was a hedge of some sort down
on King Edward Parade in Devonport, right outside the sailing club,
just in case that helps anyone to ID it We took hundreds of photos
of various things and I've muddled those up! The fruits we saw on
the Moreton Bay Fig are exactly as your pic shows them. Now all I
need to find out is what those 'incorrect' fruits really are!

Hi Sacha,

I'm pleased to hear you enjoyed your holiday here. :-)

There used to be a Moreton Bay Fig tree in my parents garden. I bought the
"Rubber Plant" for mum as a mother's day gift and, when it got too big for
growing inside she planted it out. However, about 15 years later it got to
be too big for the garden too so had to be felled.

Rubber plant definitely strikes a chord because we looked at these and saw a
similarity immediately. They are superb trees in Flagstaff Terrace,
Devonport.

I've studied the fruits in the other pic and, sorry, I can't help you with
identifying them. Then again, I certainly don't profess to be an expert, far
from it in fact. ;-)

Cheers,

I wish I could find out what they are, just out of curiosity. Nobody seems
to have any idea. I don't think they can be that rare or unusual because
they were on a hedge by the sailing club, bordering a road, not tucked away
in some exotic botanic garden.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)