BOTANICAL RECORD
Ficus sur Forssk.
Broom-cluster fig · Cape fig · Moraceae
At Odo Valley
Odo Lab priorities
Hypothesis
- High priority: ecological observation and fruit monitoring. Conditional priority: cooking, after documenting local practices and the batch. Research only: leaf, latex, bark and root extracts. This search established neither an essential-oil yield nor a safe cosmetic use specific to Ficus sur.
Documentation and strength of evidence
Documentation: Not assessed
Claimed effect: Not evaluated
Measurements that will keep the record alive
Hypothesis
- Select a few reference trees; record location, girth at a fixed height clear of buttresses, fruit and visitors each month. Ask residents about names and languages, parts used and preparations. Keep each account and trial separate, including negative results.
Documentation and strength of evidence
Documentation: Not assessed
Claimed effect: Not evaluated
Scope of this research
Literature synthesis
- Targeted synthesis consulted in September 2026, covering botany, ecology, food, traditional knowledge and experimental studies. This is not an exhaustive systematic review. No convincing human clinical trial specific to Ficus sur was identified among the sources examined.
Documentation and strength of evidence
Documentation: Not assessed
Claimed effect: Not evaluated
Odo Valley notes
Numerous fig trees at Odo Valley, with green then pink-red clusters on the trunk and main branches. Proposed priorities: preserve their ecological role, characterise the fruit and document Busua knowledge.
Field observations
Abundant fig trees in the valley
- Date precision
- Unknown
- Location
- Odo Valley · Busua · Ghana
- Observer
- JB
- Measurements and units
- Qualitative abundance; no count supplied
- Trees known to JB and recognised in photographs of Ficus sur. Clusters grow on leafless branchlets arising from the trunk and major branches. Their colour changes from green to pink-red. The date of this account is neither a planting date nor the start of their occurrence.
Record sources 11
Sources and origins
Phytochemical Insights into Ficus sur Extracts and Their Biological Activity
- Author or institution
- Sieniawska E et al.
- Publication year
- 2022
- Source link
- View source ↗
- DOI
- 10.3390/molecules27061863
- Type
- Research article
- Geographic origin
- Plant material from Côte d’Ivoire
- Date accessed
- 2026-09-15
Analytical and in vitro experiments; no patients or validated formulation.
Tree diversity and its ecological importance value in organic and conventional cocoa agroforests in Ghana
- Publication year
- 2019
- Source link
- View source ↗
- Type
- Research article
- Geographic origin
- Ghana
- Date accessed
- 2026-09-15
Agroforest inventory; no proof of a causal yield benefit from Ficus sur.
Odo Valley figs: occurrence and identification
- Author or institution
- JB
- Publication year
- 2026
- Type
- Direct account
- Geographic origin
- Odo Valley · Busua · Ghana
- Date accessed
- 2026-09-15
- Provenance and context
- JB confirms Ficus sur after comparing photographs: numerous trees, clusters on the trunk and main branches, leafless fruiting branchlets, green figs turning pink to red.
Tree count, height, age, fruiting calendar and individual tree origins are not recorded. No personal culinary or medicinal use has been reported.
Ficus sur — FigWeb
- Author or institution
- Simon van Noort & Jean-Yves Rasplus
- Source link
- View source ↗
- Type
- Documentary reference
- Date accessed
- 2026-09-15
Antioxidant activity of the bioactive compounds from the edible fruits and leaves of Ficus sur Forssk. (Moraceae)
- Author or institution
- Ogunlaja OO, Moodley R, Baijnath H, Jonnalagadda SB
- Publication year
- 2022
- Source link
- View source ↗
- Type
- Research article
- Geographic origin
- South Africa
- Date accessed
- 2026-09-15
Chemical identification and DPPH/FRAP tests; no demonstration of human therapeutic benefit.
Traditional Knowledge and Consumption of Forest Plant Foods in Ghana
- Author or institution
- Acquah SB, Sraku-Lartey M, Samar SB, Djagbletey GD
- Publication year
- 2018
- Source link
- View source ↗
- Type
- Research article
- Geographic origin
- Asante Akim South · Assin South · Offinso, Ghana
- Page, table or passage
- Ghana Journal of Forestry 34(1), 49–70 ; tableau des espèces
- Date accessed
- 2026-09-15
Survey of reported knowledge and uses. Preparations are insufficiently detailed to establish their safety.
Ficus sur — Plants of the World Online
- Author or institution
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
- Source link
- View source ↗
- Type
- Documentary reference
- Date accessed
- 2026-09-15
Mechanisms of anticonvulsant and sedative actions of the ethanolic stem-bark extract of Ficus sur Forssk (Moraceae) in rodents
- Author or institution
- Ishola IO, Olayemi SO, Yemitan OK, Ekpemandudiri NK
- Publication year
- 2013
- Source link
- View source ↗
- DOI
- 10.3923/pjbs.2013.1287.1294
- Type
- Research article
- Geographic origin
- Nigeria
- Date accessed
- 2026-09-15
Abstract of a rodent study; no clinical evidence in humans.
Ficus sur — PROTA
- Author or institution
- PROTA
- Source link
- View source ↗
- Type
- Documentary reference
- Date accessed
- 2026-09-15
Ethnobotanical and technical synthesis; no clinical validation or safe dose.
Ficus sur — PlantZAfrica
- Author or institution
- SANBI
- Source link
- View source ↗
- Type
- Documentary reference
- Date accessed
- 2026-09-15
South African advice: fruiting months are not transferred to Busua.
Scattered tree species’ leaf litter quality and impact on soil properties in enset homegardens of South Ethiopia: a case for conserving old trees
- Author or institution
- Bireda AY, Honnay O, Everaert M, Muys B, Garo G, Vancampenhout K
- Publication year
- 2026
- Source link
- View source ↗
- DOI
- 10.3389/fsufs.2026.1775874
- Type
- Research article
- Geographic origin
- Gamo highlands, southern Ethiopia
- Date accessed
- 2026-09-15
On-farm observations and a decomposition experiment; different environment from Busua, substantial between-farm variability.