Desert fig, the ancient plant species living in hiding on the slopes of Uluru

A new plant species, the desert fig, has been discovered hiding in plain sight on the slopes of Uluru in the Red Centre.

A new plant species, the desert fig, has been discovered hiding in plain sight on the slopes of Uluru, at the heart of Australia’s Red Centre.

The new fig variety, Ficus desertorum, has proven to be a distinct species, previously confused with its close relative, the Ficus brachypoda.

The Australian Institute of Botanical Science’s Russell Barrett in the field. Picture: Supplied.

As a vital food source for Indigenous people, a single tree can produce tens of thousands of fruit, and it can have fruit on it all year around. “They’ve adapted to handling dry periods, they get their roots really deep into the rock and tap into the little water that is available, deep down in the water table,” he said.

“It’s a really important food source, both fresh and dried.

“Historically, it could be punishable by death if anyone damaged one of these trees, as they’re very important for families who relied on it for a food source.”

Dr Barrett said while the discovery of a new plant species was not that unusual – he identified his first new species when he was just 14 years old – it was the location in which it had been found that made it remarkable.

“The fact it occurs on a prominent landmark like Uluru, where it’s been in plain sight, is what makes it so unusual,” he said. “To have something so prominent in that location, on Uluru itself, where there are so few species.”

The process to prove it was a morphologically unique species involved using plant samples in herbariums in Melbourne and The Netherlands from early expeditions to the Top End in the 1800s. One sample was collected at the MacDonnell Ranges near Alice Springs on an 1861 expedition of surveyor John McDouall Stuart, who led the first team to traverse the mainland from south to north, from Adelaide to the Van Diemen Gulf, and return.

It was in the same year rival explorers Burke and Wills died at remote Cooper’s Creek on their doomed return to Melbourne from the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Supplied Editorial Desert Fig pictures

“It involved going back through the history in London and Paris, looking at very old historical specimens, to see what the original application of our fig names were, and if a name did exist for this fig,” Dr Barrett said.

“The other part was going through Australian herbarium to see the plant characteristics in other arid parts, like the Pilbara, and try and figure out what the closest relative was.”

Dr Barrett said the desert fig was a hardy survivor, and could be found dotted across the central Australian outback. “Numerous Indigenous groups where this fig naturally occurs have different local names for this species, which were moved around and planted in significant sites around water holes to create a food source.”

A consultation process with the Central Land Council was unable to reach consensus on an Indigenous name for the species.

Honours student Brendan Wilde first noticed the species and enlisted Dr Barrett to ­investigate.