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.
The Moraceae — often called the mulberry family or fig family — are a family of flowering plants comprising about 38 genera and over 1100 species. Most are widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, less so in temperate climates; however, their distribution is cosmopolitan overall. The only synapomorphy within the Moraceae is presence of laticifers and milky sap in all parenchymatous tissues, but generally useful field characters include two carpels sometimes with one reduced, compound inconspicuous flowers, and compound fruits. The family includes well-known plants such as the fig, banyan, breadfruit, jackfruit, mulberry, and Osage orange. The 'flowers' of Moraceae are often pseudanthia.
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.
Ficus nota is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae. It is commonly known as tibig or sacking tree, is a species of fig tree found near water in low altitudes. Tibig is native to the Philippines. They are also found in parts of northern Borneo in Malaysia.The tree can grow up to 9 meters high. It is primarily dispersed by birds which eat the fruits and excrete the seeds. The fruits are also edible to humans, although they are rather bland. They are usually eaten with sugar and cream in the Philippines. The young leaves are also eaten as a vegetable.
Ficus crassiuscula is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae, native to Central America and north-western parts of South America.
Antiaris toxicaria is a tree in the mulberry and fig family, Moraceae. It is the only species currently recognized in the genus Antiaris. The genus Antiaris was at one time considered to consist of several species, but is now regarded as just one variable species which can be further divided into five subspecies. One significant difference within the species is that the size of the fruit decreases as one travels from Africa to Polynesia. Antiaris has a remarkably wide distribution in tropical regions, occurring in Australia, tropical Asia, tropical Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines, Tonga, and various other tropical islands. Its seeds are spread by various birds and bats, and it is not clear how many of the populations are essentially invasive. The species is of interest as a source of wood, bark cloth, and pharmacological or toxic substances.
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 insipida is a common tropical tree in the fig genus of the family Moraceae growing in forest habitats along rivers. It ranges from Mexico to northern South America.
Pharmacosycea is one of six subgenera currently recognised in the genus Ficus. It was proposed by E. J. H. Corner in 1967 to unite section Pharmacosycea with Oreosycea.
Ficus americana, commonly known as the West Indian laurel fig or Jamaican cherry fig, is a tree in the family Moraceae which is native to the Caribbean, Mexico in the north, through Central and South America south to southern Brazil. It is an introduced species in Florida, USA. The species is variable; the five recognised subspecies were previously placed in a large number of other species.
Lumnitzera is an Indo-West Pacific mangrove genus in the family Combretaceae. An English common name is black mangrove. Lumnitzera, named after the German botanist, Stephan Lumnitzer (1750-1806), occurs in mangroves from East Africa to the Western Pacific, and northern Australia.
Ficus septica is a shrub or tree of the family Moraceae living at low altitudes from northeast India to north Australia (Queensland), and throughout Malesia. It lives on the edge of the vegetation, often in degraded environments. The seeds of this species are dispersed by numerous species, including fruit bats (Megachiroptera) when present.
The Ficus sansibarica, known as knobbly fig, is an African species of cauliflorous fig. It is named after Zanzibar, where Franz Stuhlmann discovered it in 1889. They often begin life as epiphytes, which assume a strangling habit as they develop. They regularly reach 10 m, but may grow up to 40 m tall as forest stranglers.
Ficus palmata, the Punjab fig, or "Bedu" is a plant in the family Moraceae.
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).
Morus celtidifolia, the Texas mulberry, is a plant species native to South America, Central America, Mexico, and the southwestern United States, ranging from Argentina north as far as Arizona and Oklahoma. In the US, it grows in canyons and on slopes, usually near streams, from 200–2,200 metres in elevation. It is very often referred to as "Morus microphylla," including in Flora of North America, but recent studies suggest that these names are synonymous with M. celtidifolia holding priority.
Ficus altissima, commonly known as the council tree and lofty fig, is a species of flowering plant, a fig tree in the family Moraceae. It is a large, stately evergreen hemiepiphyte and is native to southeastern Asia.
Ficus cordata, the Namaqua rock fig, or Namaqua fig is a species of fig that occurs in two disjunct populations in Africa, one in the arid southwest of the continent, and a second in the northern subtropics. In the south it is often the largest and most prominent tree, and is virtually restricted to cliff faces and rock outcrops, where it has a rock-splitting habit.
Ficus glaberrima is an Asian species of fig tree in the family Moraceae. The native range of this species is India, S. China and tropical Asia: Indo-China to the Lesser Sunda Islands. The species can be found in Vietnam: where it may be called đa trụi or đa lá xanh.
Ficus virgata, commonly known as figwood, is a tree in the family Moraceae, native to areas of Southeast Asia and the western Pacific. It grows as a strangler on other trees, eventually smothering and killing its host.
