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.
Ficus rubiginosa, the rusty fig or Port Jackson fig, is a species of flowering plant native to eastern Australia in the genus Ficus. Beginning as a seedling that grows on other plants (hemiepiphyte) or rocks (lithophyte), F. rubiginosa matures into a tree 30 m (100 ft) high and nearly as wide with a yellow-brown buttressed trunk. The leaves are oval and glossy green and measure from 4 to 19.3 cm long and 1.25 to 13.2 cm wide.
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 citrifolia, also known as the shortleaf fig, giant bearded fig, Jagüey, wild banyantree and Wimba tree, is a species of banyan native to southern Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America south to Paraguay. It is distinguished from the closely related Florida strangler fig mainly by the finer veining in the leaves.
Opuntia ficus-indica, the Indian fig opuntia, fig opuntia, or prickly pear, is a species of cactus that has long been a domesticated crop plant grown in agricultural economies throughout arid and semiarid parts of the world. O. ficus-indica is the most widespread and most commercially important cactus. It is grown primarily as a fruit crop, and also for the vegetable nopales and other uses. Cacti are good crops for dry areas because they convert water into biomass efficiently. O. ficus-indica, as the most widespread of the long-domesticated cactuses, is as economically important as maize and blue agave in Mexico. Opuntia species hybridize easily, but the wild origin of O. ficus-indica is likely to have been in central Mexico where its closest genetic relatives are found.
Ficus tinctoria, also known as dye fig, or humped fig is a hemiepiphytic tree of genus Ficus. It is also one of the species known as strangler fig.
Ficus racemosa, the cluster fig, red river fig or gular, is a species of plant in the family Moraceae. It is native to Australia and tropical Asia. It is a fast-growing plant with large, very rough leaves, usually attaining the size of a large shrub, although older specimens can grow quite large and gnarled. It is unusual in that its figs grow on or close to the tree trunk, termed cauliflory.
Ficus lyrata, commonly known as the fiddle-leaf fig, is a species of flowering plant in the mulberry and fig family Moraceae. It is native to western Africa, from Cameroon west to Sierra Leone, where it grows in lowland tropical rainforest. It can grow up to 12–15 m (39–49 ft) tall.
Ficus amazonica is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae. It is found in Brazil, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
Ficus luschnathiana is a species of plant in the family Moraceae. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
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 platypoda, commonly known as the desert fig or rock fig, is a fig that is endemic to central and northern Australia. It is a lithophytic plant that grows on rocky outcrops, reaching 10 m in height.
The fig is 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 auriculata, the Roxburgh fig, is a type of fig tree, native to Asia, noted for its big and round leaves.
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 abutilifolia, the large-leaved rock fig, is a species of African rock-splitting fig that occurs in two disjunct regions, one population north, and another south of the equator. The two populations are pollinated by different fig wasps, and are morphologically distinct. It is named for the similarity of its broadly ovate leaves to that of Abutilon. It is virtually restricted to cliff faces and rock outcrops, and is easily recognized from its large, glabrous leaves and smooth, pale bark.
A tree in the Moraceae family, Ficus phaeosyce grows in eastern New Guinea, endemic to the nation of Papua Niugini. It is a shade tolerant understorey species, locally very abundant. A range of insect herbivores feed on the plant.
Ficus gomelleira is a species of flowering plant, a tree in the family Moraceae. This species is monoecious.
Ficus sciaphila is a species of flowering plant, a tree in the family Moraceae. It is closely related to Ficus copiosa.
