Wonderboom (tree)

{{short description|Dense grove of parent and daughter trees of the species Ficus salicifolia}}

{{Use South African English|date = March 2023}}

{{Infobox tree

| name = Wonderboom

| coordinates = {{coord|25|41|14.2|S|28|11|30.5|E|type:landmark_region:ZA-GP|display=inline,title}}

| location = Wonderboom Nature Reserve, Pretoria

| image = Ficus salicifolia - Die Wonderboom, d, Wonderboom Natuurreservaat.jpg

| height = {{cvt|22|m}}

| diameter = {{cvt|5.38|m}}

| species = Ficus salicifolia

}}

The Wonderboom (Afrikaans: 'wonder tree') is a dense grove of parent and daughter trees of the species Ficus salicifolia, that descended from a central bole of about a thousand years old.{{cite book |last=Palmer |first=Eve |authorlink=Eve Palmer|title=A Field Guide to the Trees of Southern Africa |pages = 91–93 | year=1977 |publisher=Collins |location=London, Johannesburg |isbn=0-620-05468-9}}{{cite book |last=Palgrave |first=K.C. |title=Trees of Southern Africa |year=1984 |publisher=Struik |location=Cape Town |isbn=0-86977-081-0 |pages=113–114}} It is situated in the Wonderboom Nature Reserve, Pretoria, and two circular walkways currently protect it from pedestrian traffic around its trunk and roots. As it has grown, its outlying branches have rooted themselves around the parent tree. This has repeated until there are now three layers of daughter trees encircling the mother fig, with 13 distinct trunks, covering an area with a diameter of over {{convert|50|m}}.