Page 32 - Tạp chí bonsai cây cảnh BCI 2015Q2

Magaliesberg Mountains near Pretoria, South Africa. also known as F. pretoriae) has a five-meter trunk
(Ficus salicifolia is not the same tree commonly used diameter, standing 24 meters high, has a 55-meter
for bonsai and is now properly called Ficus salicaria, canopy spread and covers an area of 2300 square
the Willow leaf fig.) There are other trees in the world meters. The fact that Ficus salicifolia rarely grows
that have a similar growth pattern, but the Wonder- higher than ten meters tall, make the Wonderboom
boom is probably one of the biggest and oldest. The statistics even more remarkable.
tree is called Wonderboom in Afrikaans (a local lan- The tree has a unusual growth pattern. As the pri-
guage) and can be translated into "Miracle Tree" or mary branches grow longer and heavier, they droop
"Tree of Wonder." lower, eventually touching the ground. Once in con-
tact with the ground, some of these branches ground-
Historical background layered themselves. New roots sprouted and a new
Voortrekkers (early pioneers and settlers that ex- daughter-trunk developed from this layering. Re-
plored the interior of Southern Africa), discovered peating the process, several branches from the second
the tree in 1836 and named it the Wonderboom. Sub- generation trunks, gave rise to a second circle of trees.
sequently many explorers used it as a rest stop and The Wonderboom is a clone of interconnected in-
meeting place. dividuals. Some of the original branches decayed, but
The local Ndebele people considered the area sa- thirteen trunks survived to form one monster tree.
cred because one of their chiefs was buried beneath its The growth habit, that is, the tendency to sprout
roots and it is believed to be the reason for the tree's from "elbows" of the Wonderboom is the inspiration
gigantic size. This also protected the tree and left it and blue-print of a unique bonsai style.
unmolested.
The tree has national monument status and the Multiple Trunk Wonderboom style planting
area around it has been set aside as the Wonderboom Ficus is the most suitable species to use for creating
Nature Reserve. this style. They have the ability to fuse readily, sprout
Below; Ficus natalensis, Description from ground layering and have branches that are pli-
Wonderboom style, This unusually large Ficus salicifolia or as some able enough to be bent into the "elbows" to represent
Defoliated, 2014 new trunks.
botanists believe, Ficus cordata ‘salicifolia’ (previously

30 | BCI | April/May/June 2015