Ficus salicifolia
A willow-leaved rock fig that grows on outcrops, cliffs and rocky stream banks from the KwaZulu-Natal midlands north through East Africa to the Saharan mountains, Arabia and Iran. It is usually a small tree of up to about 10 m whose drooping branches root where they touch the ground, as in the famous Wonderboom grove near Pretoria. In a pot it wants full sun, a free-draining mix and a dry, cooler winter.
Where it grows wild
A lithophytic fig that roots into cracks in rock on outcrops, rocky hillsides and cliffs along watercourses, mostly in savanna and dry woodland. It can also start as a hemiepiphyte. Plants stand in full sun or light shade from the cliff, with their roots following water in the rock.
Recorded from sea level to 2250 m, with a median of 1200 m across 80 records. Most South African records come from the highveld and bushveld at about 1000–1500 m.
🔒 Growing it like that
The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:
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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app.