Flora of North America species comparison

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Ficus pumila

Ficus microcarpa

climbing fig, creeping fig

Chinese banyan, Indian laurel
Habit Trees, evergreen, to 30 m.
Roots

adventitious, nodal.

aerial, abundant, sometimes developing pillar-roots.
Bark

gray.
Branches

appressed-pubescent when young, glabrous in age.

Branchlets

brown, glabrous.
Leaves

blade oblong to ovate-elliptic or obovate, 4-10 × 2.5-4.5 cm, those of appressed climbing stems distichous, appressed, smaller (than those of loose, extended, flowering stems), spreading, leathery, base obtuse to rounded, margins recurved, apex obtuse to nearly acute;

surfaces abaxially glabrous or puberulent on veins, adaxially glabrous, prominently reticulate;

basal pair of veins 1;

lateral pairs of veins 3-6, straight;

secondary veins prominent.

blade elliptic, obovate to ovate, 3-11 × 1.5-6 cm, thinly leathery, base obtuse to cuneate, margins entire, apex nearly acute to acuminate;

surfaces abaxially and adaxially glabrous;

basal veins 1(-2) pairs;

lateral veins 5-9 pairs, uniformly spaced.
Woody

vines or sprawling shrubs, vines closely appressed to substrate, shrubs loosely ascending, evergreen.

Syconia

solitary, pedunculate, green, oblong, obovoid, pyriform, or nearly globose, 3-4 × 3-4 cm, slightly pubescent but becoming glabrescent in age;

peduncle thick, 8-15 mm; subtending bracts ovate, 5-7 mm;

ostiole closed by 3 bracts, umbonate.

paired, sessile, purple or black, obovoid, pyriform, or nearly globose, 9-11 × 5-6 mm; subtending bracts ovate-lanceolate, 1.5-3.5 mm, apex obtuse to subacute;

ostiole closed by 3 flat, apical bracts 2-2.5 mm wide, umbonate.

Ficus pumila

Ficus microcarpa
Phenology Flowering all year. Flowering all year.
Habitat Disturbed thickets Disturbed sites
Elevation 0-10 m (0-0 ft) 0-20 m (0-100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; native to s Asia; se Asia [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; West Indies; native to Eastern Hemisphere [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Ficus pumila is occasionally cultivated as an ornamental on walls.

Ficus scandens Lamarck is a nomenclaturally illegitimate name.

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

Ficus microcarpa is commonly cultivated in Florida. At press time, word had been received (Michael O'Brien, pers. comm.) that F. microcarpa was recently found in the Los Angeles area, where the pollinating wasp apparently has been present since 1992. Voucher specimens are not yet available.

(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. carica, F. citrifolia, F. elastica, F. microcarpa, F. religiosa
F. americana, F. aurea, F. benghalensis, F. benjamina, F. carica, F. citrifolia, F. elastica, F. pumila, F. religiosa
Synonyms Urostigma microcarpa
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1060. (1753) Linnaeus f.: Suppl. Pl., 442. (1782)
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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