Ficus cordata subsp. cordata up a cliff

Ficus often loves rock. This Ficus cordata subsp. cordata or Namaqua rock fig near Clanwilliam is up a tall, nature-painted rock, displaying idiosyncratic one-upmanship over the less ostentatious tree species at the foot of the rock.

Several kinds of South African wild fig are known for making it after germinating in elevated crevices followed by early, slow-growth rock acrobatics up high.

Quick escalation is triggered once the downward search by air roots hits the open ground. By then branch-tips have head start over its woody competition, dramatically accelerating progress from the sudden abundance of nutritional resources (Mannheimer and Curtis, (Ed.), 2009; Coates Palgrave, 2002).