Editing Ficus macrophylla (section)

==Taxonomy==
[[File:Ficus Macrophylla - The domain - Sydney 2024.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Ficus macrophylla in The Domain, Sydney. 2024]]

South African botanist [[Christiaan Hendrik Persoon]] published a formal [[species description|description]] of the Moreton Bay fig in his 1807 work ''Synopsis Plantarum'',<ref>{{cite book | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/235943 | page=609 | language=la | first=Christiaan Hendrik | last= Persoon | title = Synopsis plantarum, seu Enchiridium botanicum, complectens enumerationem systematicam specierum hucusque cognitarum | volume=2 | year=1807 | publisher=C.F. Cramerum | location=Paris, France}}</ref> the material having been reported by French botanist [[René Louiche Desfontaines]] in 1804.<ref>{{cite book | last=Desfontaines | first= René Louiche | language=fr | year=1804 | title= Tableau de l'Ecole de Botanique du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle | volume=1–2 | page= 209 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13714893}}</ref> The type specimen has been lost but was possibly located in Florence.<ref name=dixon01>{{cite journal|last=Dixon|first=Dale J.|year=2001|title=Figs, wasps and species concepts: a re-evaluation of the infraspecific taxa of ''Ficus macrophylla'' (Moraceae: ''Urostigma'' sect. ''Malvanthera'')|journal=Australian Systematic Botany|volume=14|issue=1|pages=125–32|doi=10.1071/SB99026 }}</ref> The [[Specific epithet (botany)|specific epithet]] ''macrophylla'' is derived from the [[Ancient Greek]] ''makros'' "large" and ''phyllon'' "leaf",<ref name=Liddell1980>{{cite book |author1= Liddell, Henry George |author2-link=Robert Scott (philologist) |author2=Scott, Robert | year = 1980 | title = A Greek-English Lexicon |edition=Abridged | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] | location = Oxford, United Kingdom | isbn =978-0-19-910207-5| title-link = A Greek-English Lexicon |author1-link=Henry George Liddell }}</ref> and refers to the size of the leaves.<ref name="Floyd09"/> In the early 19th century, Italian botanist [[Vincenzo Tineo]] of the [[Orto botanico di Palermo]] in Sicily obtained a plant from a French nursery that grew to a prodigious size with a [[banyan]] habit. This form was propagated and grown in gardens around Sicily. A later director of the gardens, [[Antonino Borzì]], described it as ''Ficus magnolioides'' in 1897, distinguishing it from ''F. macrophylla'' on account of its larger leaves with greener undersides. This name was widely used in Europe.<ref name=fici96>{{cite journal | journal=Curtis's Botanical Magazine | title= On the real identity of ''Ficus magnolioides'' | first1=Silvio | last1=Fici | first2=Francesco Maria | last2=Raimondo | volume=13|issue=2 | year=1996 | pages =105–07 | doi= 10.1111/j.1467-8748.1996.tb00549.x}}</ref>

Australian botanist [[Charles Moore (botanist)|Charles Moore]] described ''Ficus columnaris'' in 1870 from material collected from [[Lord Howe Island]], choosing the species name from the [[Latin]] ''columnaris'' for the column-like roots.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27155563 | journal = Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh|first=Charles | last= Moore | year=1870 | volume= 10 | issue = 1–4| pages= 365–71 | title= Sketch of the botany of Lord Howe's Island | doi = 10.1080/03746607009468716}}</ref> English botanist [[E. J. H. Corner]] reduced this to synonymy with ''F. macrophylla'' in 1965, before P. S. Green noted it was distinct enough for subspecies status in 1986. Australian botanist Dale J. Dixon reviewed material and felt the differences too minor to warrant subspecific status,<ref name=dixon01/> and recognised two [[Form (botany)|forms]]: ''Ficus macrophylla'' f. ''macrophylla'', a free-standing tree [[endemism|endemic]] to mainland Australia; and ''Ficus macrophylla'' f. ''columnaris'', a [[hemiepiphyte]] lacking a distinct main trunk and endemic to Lord Howe Island.<ref name=Dixon2003>{{cite journal|last=Dixon |first=Dale J. |year=2003 |title=A taxonomic revision of the Australian ''Ficus'' species in the section ''Malvanthera'' (''Ficus'' subg. ''Urostigma'': Moraceae) |journal=Telopea |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=125–53 | doi=10.7751/telopea20035611 | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242385833|doi-access=free }}</ref> Review of ''F. magnolioides'' by Silvio Fici and Francesco Maria Raimondo found that it was ''F. macrophylla'' f. ''columnaris''.<ref name=fici96/>

The species is [[common name|commonly]] known as the Moreton Bay fig,<ref name="Floyd09"/> after Moreton Bay in southern Queensland, although it is found elsewhere. An alternate name—black fig—is derived from the dark colour of the ageing bark.<ref>{{cite book |title=Rainforest to Bonsai |last=Webber |first=Len |year=1991 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |location=East Roseville, New South Wales |isbn=978-0-7318-0237-1 |page=105}}</ref>

With over 750 species, ''[[Ficus]]'' is one of the largest [[angiosperm]] genera.<ref name = Frodin1994>{{cite journal | last = Frodin | first = David G. | year = 2004 | title = History and concepts of big plant genera | journal = Taxon | volume = 53 | issue = 3 | pages = 753–76 | doi = 10.2307/4135449 | jstor = 4135449}}</ref> Based on [[morphology (biology)|morphology]], Corner divided the genus into four [[subgenus|subgenera]];<ref name = Dixon2003/> later expanded to six.<ref name = Ronsted2008a>{{cite journal | last1 = Rønsted | first1 = Nina | last2 = Weiblen | first2 = George D. |last3 = Clement | first3 = W. L. | last4 = Zerega | first4 = N. J. C. |last5 = Savolainen |first5 = V. | year = 2008 | title = Reconstructing the phylogeny of figs (Ficus, Moraceae) to reveal the history of the fig pollination mutualism | journal = Symbiosis | volume = 45 | issue = 1–3 | pages = 45–56 | url = http://geo.cbs.umn.edu/RonstedEtAl2008a.pdf }}</ref> In this classification, the Moreton Bay fig was placed in [[subseries]] ''Malvanthereae'', [[series (botany)|series]] ''Malvanthereae'', [[section (botany)|section]] ''Malvanthera'' of the subgenus ''[[Urostigma]]''.<ref name = Ronsted2008b>{{cite journal | last1 = Rønsted | first1 = Nina | last2 = Weiblen | first2 = George D. | last3 = Savolainen | first3 = V | last4= Cook | first4 = James M. | year = 2008 | title = Phylogeny, biogeography, and ecology of ''Ficus'' section ''Malvanthera'' (Moraceae) | journal = Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume = 48 | issue = 1 | pages = 12–22 | doi = 10.1016/j.ympev.2008.04.005 | url = http://geo.cbs.umn.edu/RonstedEtAl2008b.pdf | pmid = 18490180 }}</ref> In his reclassification of the Australian ''Malvanthera'', Dixon altered the delimitations of the series within the section but left this species in series ''Malvanthereae''.<ref name = Dixon2003/>

In 2005, Dutch botanist [[Cornelis Christiaan Berg|Cornelis Berg]] completed Corner's treatment of the [[Moraceae]] for the ''Flora Malesiana''; the completion of that work had been delayed since 1972 as a result of disagreements between Corner and C. J. J. G. van Steenis, editor of the ''Flora Malesiana''.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Weiblen | first1 = G. D. |first2=W. L. |last2= Clement | year = 2007 | title = Flora Malesiana. Series I. Volume 17 parts 1 & 2 | journal = Edinburgh Journal of Botany | volume = 64 | issue = 3 | pages = 431–37 | doi = 10.1017/S0960428607064311 | url = http://geo.cbs.umn.edu/Weiblen&Clement2007.pdf }}</ref> Berg combined sections ''Stilpnophyllum'' and ''Malvanthera'' into an expanded section ''Stilpnophyllum''. This left the Moreton Bay fig in subsection ''Malvanthera'', section ''Stilpnophyllum''.<ref name = Ronsted2008b/>

In a 2008 study on DNA sequences from the nuclear ribosomal [[internal transcribed spacer|internal]] and [[external transcribed spacer]]s, Danish botanist [[Nina Rønsted]] and colleagues rejected previous subdivisions of the ''Malvanthera''. Instead, they divided section ''Malvanthera'' into three subsections—''Malvantherae'', ''Platypodeae,'' and ''Hesperidiiformes''. In this system, the Moreton Bay fig is in the subsection ''Malvantherae'', along with ''[[Ficus pleurocarpa|F. pleurocarpa]]''. The ''Malvantherae'' appear to be [[Basal (phylogenetics)|basal]] (an early offshoot) to the group. ''F. macrophylla'' form ''macrophylla'' is native to mainland Australia, while form ''columnaris'' of ''macrophylla'' colonised Lord Howe Island.<ref name = Ronsted2008b/> The section ''Malvanthera'' itself is thought to have evolved 41 million years ago and radiated around 35 million years ago.<ref name = Ronsted2008a/><!-- cites 3 previous sentences -->