Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The common fig (F. carica) is a temperate species native to southwest Asia and the Mediterranean region, which has been widely cultivated from ancient times for its fruit, also referred to as figs. The fruit of most other species are also edible though they are usually of only local economic importance or eaten as bushfood. However, they are extremely important food resources for wildlife. Figs are also of considerable cultural importance throughout the tropics, both as objects of worship and for their many practical uses.
Lee County is located in Southwest Florida on the Gulf Coast. As of the 2020 census, the population was 760,822. The county seat is Fort Myers, and the largest city is Cape Coral with an estimated 2020 population of 194,000. Lee County comprises the Cape Coral–Fort Myers, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Fort Myers is a city in and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the population was 62,298 and in 2020 was 86,395. Together with the larger and more residential Cape Coral, it anchors a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) which comprises Lee County and has a population of 770,577 in 2019.
A banyan, also spelled "banian", is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adventitious prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as an epiphyte, i.e. a plant that grows on another plant, when its seed germinates in a crack or crevice of a host tree or edifice. "Banyan" often specifically denotes Ficus benghalensis, which is the national tree of India, though the name has also been generalized to denominate all figs that share a common life cycle and used systematically in taxonomy to denominate the subgenus Urostigma.
Ficus benghalensis, commonly known as the banyan, banyan fig and Indian banyan, is a tree native to the Indian Subcontinent. Specimens in India are among the largest trees in the world by canopy coverage. It also known as the "strangler fig" because it starts out as epiphyte, that is, leaning on another tree that it ends up suffocating.
Ficus benjamina, commonly known as weeping fig, benjamin fig or ficus tree, and often sold in stores as just ficus, is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae, native to Asia and Australia. It is the official tree of Bangkok. The species is also naturalized in the West Indies and in the states of Florida and Arizona in the United States. In its native range, its small fruit are favored by some birds.
Ficus microcarpa, also known as Chinese banyan, Malayan banyan, Indian laurel, curtain fig, or gajumaru (ガジュマル), is a tree in the fig family Moraceae. It is native in a range from China through tropical Asia and the Caroline Islands to Australia. It is widely planted as a shade tree and frequently misidentified as F. retusa or as F. nitida.
The Edison and Ford Winter Estates contain a historical museum and 21 acre botanical garden on the adjacent sites of the winter homes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford beside the Caloosahatchee River in Southwestern Florida. There is also a garden center with hundreds of plants and trees available for purchase. It is located at 2350 McGregor Boulevard, Fort Myers, Florida.
The Koreshan State Historic Site is a state park in Lee County, Florida located on U.S. Highway 41 at Corkscrew Road. It was also added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 4, 1976, under the designation of Koreshan Unity Settlement Historic District.
Ficus pumila, commonly known as the creeping fig or climbing fig, is a species of flowering plant in the mulberry family, native to East Asia and naturalized in parts of the southeastern and south-central United States. It is also found in cultivation as a houseplant. The Latin specific epithet pumila means "dwarf", and refers to the very small leaves of the plant.
The Matanzas Pass Bridge is a bridge located in Fort Myers Beach, Florida. It carries State Road 865 between the Florida mainland and Estero Island, which is a major tourist destination. The bridge is one of the island's two connections to the mainland. The other is the Bonita Beach Causeway on the south end of the island.
Ficus aurea, commonly known as the Florida strangler fig, golden fig, or higuerón, is a tree in the family Moraceae that is native to the U.S. state of Florida, the northern and western Caribbean, southern Mexico and Central America south to Panama. The specific epithet aurea was applied by English botanist Thomas Nuttall who described the species in 1846.
Ficus obliqua, commonly known as the small-leaved fig, is a tree in the family Moraceae, native to eastern Australia, New Guinea, eastern Indonesia to Sulawesi and islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Previously known for many years as Ficus eugenioides, it is a banyan of the genus Ficus, which contains around 750 species worldwide in warm climates, including the edible fig. Beginning life as a seedling, which grows on other plants (epiphyte) or on rocks (lithophyte), F. obliqua can grow to 60 m (200 ft) high and nearly as wide with a pale grey buttressed trunk, and glossy green leaves.
Ficus henneana is a strangler fig only occurring in Australia. Previously considered a variety of Ficus superba which occurs in China, Japan and parts of South East Asia. The cedar fig or deciduous fig grows in Australia from Milton, New South Wales to northern Queensland and the Northern Territory. The habitat is riverine, littoral or the drier forms of rainforest. The fruit is considered edible for humans, but it is not particularly palatable.
The fig contains the edible fruit of Ficus carica, a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world, both for its fruit and as an ornamental plant. Ficus carica is the type species of the genus Ficus, containing over 800 tropical and subtropical plant species.
Ficus subpisocarpa is a species of small deciduous tree native to Japan, China, Taiwan and southeast Asia to the Moluccas (Ceram). Two subspecies are recognised. Terrestrial or hemiepiphytic, it reaches a height of 7 m (23 ft). Ants predominantly of the genus Crematogaster have been recorded living in stem cavities. Ficus subpisocarpa is pollinated by Platyscapa ishiiana (Agaonidae).
Potential Tropical Cyclone Ten was a damaging storm that was the tenth tropical disturbance designated by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) during the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season. The disturbance was deemed to have a very high chance of becoming a tropical cyclone while posing a threat to populated areas and was designated a "Potential Tropical Cyclone". The storm caused flooding and brought tropical storm-force winds to parts of the Southeastern United States and the Mid-Atlantic states, particularly Florida and the Carolinas, before going on to affect parts of Atlantic Canada. Potential Tropical Cyclone Ten was the tenth storm that had advisories issued on it by the NHC in 2017, and the only such system that failed to fully develop into a tropical cyclone during that Atlantic hurricane season. Potential Tropical Cyclone Ten originated from a tropical wave that moved off the coast of West Africa on August 13. The disturbance slowly tracked its way westward across the Atlantic Ocean, before reaching Florida in late August. The disturbance came close to developing into a tropical storm while it was situated off the coast of the Carolinas; however, strong wind shear and outflow from Hurricane Harvey prevented the storm from organizing into a tropical cyclone. The system transitioned into an extratropical cyclone instead, and became a strong hurricane-force low to the south of Newfoundland, before being absorbed by another extratropical system near Iceland on September 3.
Hurricane Irma was the most expensive storm in the history of the U.S. state of Florida. Irma developed from a tropical wave near the Cape Verde Islands on August 30, 2017. The storm quickly became a hurricane on August 31 and then a major hurricane shortly thereafter, but would oscillate in intensity over the next few days. By September 4, Irma resumed strengthening, and became a powerful Category 5 hurricane on the following day. The cyclone then struck Saint Maarten and the British Virgin Islands on September 6 and later crossed Little Inagua in the Bahamas on September 8. Irma briefly weakened to a Category 4 hurricane, but re-intensified into a Category 5 hurricane before making landfall in the Sabana-Camagüey Archipelago of Cuba. After falling to Category 3 status due to land interaction, the storm re-strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane in the Straits of Florida. Irma struck Florida twice on September 10 – the first as a Category 4 at Cudjoe Key and the second on Marco Island as a Category 3. The hurricane weakened significantly over Florida, and was reduced to a tropical storm, before exiting the state into Georgia on September 11.
Ficus drupacea, also known as the brown-woolly fig or Mysore fig, is a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia and Northeast Australia. It is a strangler fig; it begins its life cycle as an epiphyte on a larger tree, which it eventually engulfs. Its distinctive features include dense, woolly pubescence, bright yellow to red fleshy fruit, and grayish white bark. It can reach heights of 10–30 meters (33–98 ft). Its fruit are eaten by pigeons, and it is pollinated by Eupristina belgaumensis. It occurs in environments ranging from sea-level beachfront environments to montane forests, up to 1000 m (3281 ft).
Site of Ficus superba var. henneana tree is a heritage-listed individual tree at 3-4 Fernleigh Gardens, Rose Bay in the Municipality of Woollahra local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was planted during 1827. It is also known as Cedar fig, superb fig and Port Hacking fig; formerly part of Fernleigh Castle; The Ferns grounds. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. The identification of the tree is confirmed as the White Fig, not indigenous to Sydney.
