Flora of North America species comparison

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Ficus carica

Ficus benjamina

common fig, edible fig, fiku, piku

weeping fig
Habit Shrubs or small trees, deciduous, to 5 m. Roots not adventitious. Trees, evergreen, to 10 m. Roots adventitious, occasionally hanging.
Bark

grayish, slightly roughened.

gray, smooth.
Branchlets

pubescent.

brown, glabrous.
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 oblong, elliptic, lanceolate, or ovate, 4-6(-11) × 1.5-6 cm, nearly leathery, base rounded or cuneate, margins entire, apex acuminate or cuspidate;

surfaces abaxially and adaxially glabrous;

basal veins 1(-2) pairs, short;

lateral veins (6-)12(-14) pairs, regularly spaced, uniform;

secondary veins prominent.
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.

solitary or paired, sessile or subsessile, orange, yellow, or dark red, nearly globose, 8-12 × 7-10 mm, glabrous; subtending bracts 2-3, crescent-shaped, 0.5-1.5 mm, glabrous;

ostiole closed by 3 small, flat, apical bracts 1.5-2 mm wide, umbonate.

Ficus carica

Ficus benjamina
Phenology Flowering spring–summer. Flowering all year.
Habitat Disturbed sites Disturbed thickets and hammocks
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; West Indies (Lesser Antilles); native to Asia [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.)

Ficus benjamina is commonly cultivated as a houseplant. The name probably refers to the supposed relation of the plant to the source of a resin or benzoin procured from the Orient in antiquity.

(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. americana, F. aurea, F. benghalensis, F. carica, F. citrifolia, F. elastica, F. microcarpa, F. pumila, F. religiosa
Synonyms Urostigma benjamina
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1059. (1753) Linnaeus: Mant. Pl., 129. (1767)
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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