Page 32 - BSAM 2015 Q1

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