Ficus ingens art

The eye quickly checks this sculpture to confirm what is tree and what is rock. The tree is still growing and doing so admirably; a lush canopy above provides welcome shade against the Gauteng summer sun.

Ficus ingens stems are moulded by the shapes of the supporting rocks they grow on. In this case the rock support resembles a bed; fittingly if one surveys the reclining stem shapes.

The base of the stem usually hugs a large above-ground rock, folding tightly over it. Sometimes parts of the stems are ensconced in cracks that may go right through the rock, split open by tiny pioneer roots that enlarged long ago.