Flora of North America species comparison

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Ficus carica

Ficus americana

common fig, edible fig, fiku, piku

Jamaican cherry fig, West Indian laurel fig
Habit Shrubs or small trees, deciduous, to 5 m. Roots not adventitious. Trees, evergreen, to 12 m. Roots adventitious, aerial.
Bark

grayish, slightly roughened.

grayish to brown, smooth.
Branchlets

pubescent.

grayish, smooth.
Leaves

blade obovate, nearly orbiculate, or ovate, palmately 3-5-lobed, 15-30 × 15-30 cm, base cordate, margins undulate or irregularly dentate, apex acute to obtuse;

surfaces abaxially and adaxially scabrous-pubescent;

basal veins 5 pairs;

lateral veins irregularly spaced.

blade elliptic to obovate, 2-8 × 1-4 cm, base usually acute or cuneate to nearly obtuse, margins entire, apex acute, obtuse, or short-apiculate;

surfaces abaxially and adaxially glabrous;

basal veins 1(-2) pairs;

lateral veins 6-14 pairs, not uniformly spaced.
Syconia

solitary, sessile, green, yellow, or red-purple, pyriform, 5-8 cm, pubescent;

peduncle ca. 1 cm; subtending bracts ovate, 1-2 mm;

ostiole with 3 subtending bracts, umbonate.

paired, red, not spotted, globose, 3-7 mm diam., glabrous;

peduncles 2-5 mm; subtending bracts 2, basally connate, ovate, 1-1.5 mm;

ostiole ca. 1 mm wide, subtended by 3 bracts, bracts ca. 1 mm, not umbonate.

Ficus carica

Ficus americana
Phenology Flowering spring–summer. Flowering all year.
Habitat Disturbed sites Disturbed thickets
Elevation 0-300 m (0-1000 ft) 0-10 m (0-0 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; FL; MA; NC; SC; Mexico; West Indies; native to Asia [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; Mexico; Central America; South America; native to West Indies [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Ficus carica is known to escape in Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia, although no specific localities are documented.

Ficus carica was first known from Caria in southwestern Asia. It is cultivated for its edible fruit and becomes established outside of cultivation only sporadically in the United States. It can sometimes be found persisting around old habitations and old orchards.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

The name Ficus perforata Linnaeus (Pl. Surin., 17. 1775) is an illegitimate name, based on the same type collection as F. americana Aublet. Ficus americana is locally escaped from cultivation.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Moraceae > Ficus Moraceae > Ficus
Sibling taxa
F. americana, F. aurea, F. benghalensis, F. benjamina, F. citrifolia, F. elastica, F. microcarpa, F. pumila, F. religiosa
F. aurea, F. benghalensis, F. benjamina, F. carica, F. citrifolia, F. elastica, F. microcarpa, F. pumila, F. religiosa
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1059. (1753) Aublet: Hist. Pl. Guiane, 952. (1775)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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