Ficus Pleurocarpa - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

Ficus pleurocarpa was described by German-Australian botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1874 in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae. Its specific epithet is derived from Ancient Greek pleuro, ribbed, and carpus, fruit, or flesh of the fruit, hence "ribbed fruit". This is derived from the 5–10 ribs that run along the length of the fruit.

With over 750 species, Ficus is one of the largest angiosperm genera. On the basis of morphology, English botanist E. J. H. Corner divided the genus into four subgenera which were later expanded to six. In this classification, F. pleurocarpa was placed in subseries Hesperidiiformes, series Malvanthereae, section Malvanthera of the subgenus Urostigma. In his reclassification of the Australian Malvanthera, Dixon altered the delimitations of the series within the section, but left this species in series Hesperidiiformes.

In 2005, 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. Berg combined sections Stilpnophyllum and Malvanthera into an expanded section Stilpnophyllum. This left F. pleurocarpa in subsection Malvanthera, section Stilpnophyllum.

Based on DNA sequences from the nuclear ribosomal internal and external transcribed spacers, 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, F. pleurocarpais in the new subsection Malvantherae.