Thursday, March 13, 2008

Trees of Santa Monica, Part 2. The Moreton Bay Fig

This is a Moreton Bay Fig. It's also a ficus, a Ficus macrophylla; one of the largest. This particular Moreton Bay Fig seen below is the biggest and oldest tree in the Santa Monica Bay Area. It was planted in 1879 by the founder of Santa Monica, John P. Jones. It reins over the courtyard of the Fairmont Miramar Hotel on Wilshire.

The Moreton Bay Fig is often multi-trunked with thick surface roots and broad, leathery leaves. It bears a red-speckled fruit an inch big. It's native to Australia and parts of Wales.

Growing up, my friends and I talked a lot about a particular street called La Mesa Drive. It is small, exclusive street carved out above San Vicente. It's only about four blocks long. Every Halloween we would trek a couple miles up to La Mesa to get the good candy and to eye-ball the mansions. But as I got older, I realized the lure was the trees. The knotty and gargantuan-rooted trees that cocooned the road. La Mesa is lined with Moreton Bay Fig trees. Check these out:



Aren't they fantastic?

3 comments:

Don't Get Mad, Get Vegan! said...

wow. those are truly amazing. i myself am smitten with trees, seriously.

one of my most favorite lines from a song is 'the wisdom's in the trees not the glass windows' by jack johnson. so true!

you make me wanna get my camera and go capture some of the grandaddy oaks we have here in northern florida.

Diz Rivera said...

I love that you're a treedork like me. I'd be all over your N.Flo Tree posts. In fact, please do!

Hil and Bob said...

I'm a tree dork, too! I love the new colors. It would be neat to put together a page of different tree pages from different bloggers in different areas. I am sadly, though, without a camera. xoxo, hil