New plant species discovered on slopes of Uluru

Words: Rhiannon Down Producer: Louise Starkey

A new plant species has been found on the slopes of Uluru, at the heart of Australia's Red Centre.

The new desert fig variety, Ficus Desertorum, is a distinct species that can produce tens of thousands of fruit from a single tree and is considered a vital food source for Indigenous people. It can have fruit on it all year round.

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

Dr Russell Barrett Australian Institute of Botanical Science

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 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 Russell Barrett Australian Institute of Botanical Science

Dr Barrett said the desert fig was a hardy survivor, and could be found dotted across the central Australian outback.