Ficus#Fig pollination and fig fruit

File:Ficus-AerialRoot.jpgs that may eventually provide structural support]]

File:Ficus carica tree.jpg (common fig)]]

File:菩提樹 Ficus religiosa 20210421111446 01.jpg. The white stipule contains a new leaf and a new stipule.]]

Ficus is a pantropical genus of trees, shrubs, and vines occupying a wide variety of ecological niches; most are evergreen, but some deciduous species are found in areas outside of the tropics and to higher elevations.{{Cite book |title=Handbook of Flowering Volume 6 of CRC Handbook of Flowering |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZcTP7Kb01NAC&pg=PA331 |year=1989 |author=Halevy, Abraham H. |publisher=CRC Press |page=331 |isbn=978-0-8493-3916-5 |access-date=2009-08-25}} Fig species are characterized by their unique inflorescence and distinctive pollination syndrome, which uses wasp species belonging to the family Agaonidae for pollination. Adult plants vary in size from Ficus benghalensis (the Indian banyan), a tall and speading tree with many adventitious roots which may cover a hectare (2.5 acres) or more of ground to Ficus nana of New Guinea which never exceeds one meter (forty inches) in height and width.{{cite journal | last= | date= 2005 | title= Moraceae - Ficus | journal= Flora Malesiana | volume= 17 | issue= part 2 | page= 436 }}

Specific identification of many of the species can be difficult, but members of the genus Ficus are relatively easy to recognize. Many have aerial roots and a distinctive shape or habit, and their fruits distinguish them from other plants. The fruit of Ficus is an inflorescence enclosed in an urn-like structure called a syconium, which is lined on the inside with the fig's tiny flowers that develop into multiple ovaries on the inside surface.{{Cite web |url=http://waynesword.palomar.edu/fruitid6.htm#figs |title=Ficus: The Remarkable Genus Of Figs |access-date=2021-05-16 |archive-date=2009-12-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091211212639/http://waynesword.palomar.edu/fruitid6.htm#figs |url-status=dead}} In essence, the fig fruit is a fleshy stem with multiple tiny flowers that fruit and coalesce.

Notably, three vegetative traits together are unique to figs. All figs present a white to yellowish latex, some in copious quantities; the twig shows paired stipules —or circular scars if the stipules have fallen off; the lateral veins at the base of the leaf are steep, forming a tighter angle with the midrib than the other lateral veins, a feature referred to as "triveined".

Current molecular clock estimates indicate that Ficus is a relatively ancient genus, being at least 60 million years old,{{sfnp|Rønsted et al.|2005}} and possibly as old as 80 million years. The main radiation of extant species, however, may have taken place more recently, between 20 and 40 million years ago.

Some better-known species that represent the diversity of the genus include, alongside the common fig, whose fingered fig leaf is well known in art and iconography: the weeping fig (F. benjamina), a hemiepiphyte with thin, tough leaves on pendulous stalks adapted to its rain forest habitat; the rough-leaved sandpaper figs from Australia; and the creeping fig (F. pumila), a vine whose small, hard leaves form a dense carpet of foliage over rocks or garden walls.

Moreover, figs with different plant habits have undergone adaptive radiation in different biogeographic regions, leading to very high levels of alpha diversity. In the tropics, Ficus commonly is the most species-rich plant genus in a particular forest. In Asia, as many as 70 or more species can co-exist.{{sfnp|Harrison|2005}} Ficus species richness declines with an increase in latitude in both hemispheres.{{sfnp|van Noort|van Harten|2006}}{{sfnp|Berg|Hijmann|1989}}

A description of fig tree cultivation is set out in Ibn al-'Awwam's 12th-century agricultural work titled, Book on Agriculture.{{cite book |last=Ibn al-'Awwam |first=Yaḥyá |author-link=Ibn al-'Awwam |title=Le livre de l'agriculture d'Ibn-al-Awam (kitab-al-felahah) |year=1864 |location=Paris |publisher=A. Franck |translator=J.-J. Clement-Mullet |pages=277–281 (ch. 7 - Article 25) |url=https://archive.org/details/lelivredelagric00algoog/page/n14/mode/2up |language=fr |oclc=780050566}} (pp. [https://archive.org/details/lelivredelagric00algoog/page/n384/mode/2up 277]–281 (Article XXV)

Figs are keystone species in many tropical forest ecosystems. Their fruit are a key resource for frugivores including fruit bats, capuchin monkeys, langurs, gibbons, and mangabeys. They are even more important for birds such as Asian barbets, pigeons, hornbills, fig-parrots, and bulbuls, which may subsist almost entirely on figs when these are plentiful. Many Lepidoptera caterpillars feed on fig leaves, for example several Euploea species (crow butterflies), the plain tiger (Danaus chrysippus), the giant swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes), the brown awl (Badamia exclamationis), and Chrysodeixis eriosoma, Choreutidae and Copromorphidae moths. The larvae of the citrus long-horned beetle (Anoplophora chinensis), for example, feed on the wood of the fig tree; the species can become a pest in fig plantations. Similarly, the sweet potato whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) is frequently found as a pest on figs grown as potted plants and can be spread through the export of these plants to other localities. For a list of other diseases common to fig trees, see List of foliage plant diseases (Moraceae).

{{anchor|Caprifig}}

{{See also|Fig}}

File:Fig.jpg fruit]]

File:Fig (Ficus carica) fruit halved.jpg

Many fig species are grown for their fruits, though only Ficus carica is cultivated to any extent for this purpose.{{fact|date=July 2022}}{{disputed inline|date=July 2022}} A fig "fruit" is a type of multiple fruit known as a syconium, derived from an arrangement of many small flowers on an inverted, nearly closed receptacle. The many small flowers are unseen unless the fig is cut open.{{cn|date=June 2023}}

The fruit typically has a bulbous shape with a small opening (the ostiole) at the outward end that allows access to pollinators. The flowers are pollinated by very small wasps such as Pegoscapus that crawl through the opening in search of a suitable place to lay eggs. Without this pollinator service fig trees could not reproduce by seed. In turn, the flowers provide a safe haven and nourishment for the next generation of wasps. This accounts for the frequent presence of wasp larvae in the fruit, and has led to a coevolutionary relationship. Technically, a fig fruit proper would be only one of the many tiny matured, seed-bearing gynoecia found inside one fig – if you cut open a fresh fig, individual fruit will appear as fleshy "threads", each bearing a single seed inside. The genus Dorstenia, also in the fig family (Moraceae), exhibits similar tiny flowers arranged on a receptacle but in this case the receptacle is a more or less flat, open surface.{{cn|date=June 2023}}

Fig plants can be monoecious (hermaphrodite){{clarification needed|reason=androdioecious is neither synonymous with Monoicy or hermaphroditism|date=September 2021}} or gynodioecious (hermaphrodite and female).{{cite web |url=http://waynesword.palomar.edu/dawkins.htm |last1=Armstrong |first1=Wayne P |first2=Steven |last2=Disparti |title=A Key to Subgroups of Dioecious* (Gynodioecious) Figs Based On Fig Wasp/Male Syconium Pollination Patterns |website=Wayne's Word |date=4 April 1998 |access-date=2012-01-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202215506/http://waynesword.palomar.edu/dawkins.htm |archive-date=2012-02-02}} Nearly half of fig species are gynodioecious, and therefore have some plants with inflorescences (syconium) with long styled pistillate flowers, and other plants with staminate flowers mixed with short styled pistillate flowers.{{Cite book |title=Plant diversity and complexity patterns: local, regional, and global dimensions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1QwCQFbPsa4C&pg=RA1-PA427 |year=2005 |publisher=Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab |page=472 |isbn=978-87-7304-304-2 |last1=Friis |first1=Ib |last2=Balslev |first2=Henrik}} The long-styled flowers tend to prevent wasps from laying their eggs within the ovules, while the short-styled flowers are accessible for egg laying.{{cite journal |title=Sex Differences and Flowering Phenology in the Common Fig, Ficus carica L. |last1=Valdeyron |first1=Georges |last2=Lloyd |first2=David G. |jstor=2407790 |journal=Evolution |volume=33 |issue=2 |date=June 1979 |pages=673–685 |doi=10.2307/2407790 |pmid=28563939}}

All the native fig trees of the American continent are hermaphrodites, as well as species like Indian banyan (F. benghalensis), weeping fig (F. benjamina), Indian rubber plant (F. elastica), fiddle-leaved fig (F. lyrata), Moreton Bay fig (F. macrophylla), Chinese banyan (F. microcarpa), sacred fig (F. religiosa) and sycamore fig (F. sycomorus).{{sfnp|Berg|Corner|2005}} The common fig (Ficus carica) is a gynodioecious plant, as well as lofty fig or clown fig (F. aspera), Roxburgh fig (F. auriculata), mistletoe fig (F. deltoidea), F. pseudopalma, creeping fig (F. pumila) and related species. The hermaphrodite common figs are called "inedible figs" or "caprifigs"; in traditional culture in the Mediterranean region they were considered food for goats (Capra aegagrus). In the female fig trees, the male flower parts fail to develop; they produce the "'edible figs". Fig wasps grow in common fig caprifigs but not in the female syconiums because the female flower is too long for the wasp to successfully lay her eggs in them. Nonetheless, the wasp pollinates the flower with pollen from the caprifig it grew up in. In many situations, the wasp pollinator is unable to escape and dies within the fruit. When the wasp dies, it is broken down by enzymes (Ficain) inside the fig. Fig wasps are not known to transmit any diseases harmful to humans.

When a caprifig ripens, another caprifig must be ready to be pollinated. In temperate climes, wasps hibernate in figs, and there are distinct crops. Caprifigs have three crops per year; common figs have two.{{cite book |doi=10.1016/B0-12-227055-X/00463-6 |chapter=FIGS |title=Encyclopedia of Food Sciences and Nutrition |year=2003 |last1=Sinha |first1=K.K. |pages=2394–2399 |isbn=978-0-12-227055-0}} The first crop (breba) is larger and juicier, and usually eaten fresh. In cold climates the breba crop is often destroyed by spring frosts.California Rare Fruit Growers, Inc. (1996): [http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/fig.html Fig] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031124540/http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/fig.html |date=2020-10-31 }}. Retrieved November 1, 2008. Some parthenocarpic cultivars of common figs do not require pollination at all, and will produce a crop of figs (albeit sterile) in the absence of caprifigs and fig wasps.

Depending on the species, each fruit can contain hundreds or even thousand of seeds.{{cite web |title=The Weird Sex Life of the Fig |url=http://figs4fun.com/Links/FigLink006a.pdf |website=Ray's Figs |access-date=2012-01-05}} Figs can be propagated by seeds, cuttings, air-layering or grafting. However, as with any plant, figs grown from seed are not necessarily genetically identical to the parent and are only propagated this way for breeding purposes.

{{Further|Reproductive coevolution in Ficus}}

File:Ficus exasperata by kadavoor.jpg, fruits]]

The unique fig pollination system involves tiny, highly specific wasps, known as fig wasps, that enter via ostiole these subclosed inflorescences to both pollinate and lay their own eggs.{{sfnp|Rønsted et al.|2005}} Each species of fig is pollinated by one or a few specialised wasp species, and therefore plantings of fig species outside of their native range results in effectively sterile individuals. For example, in Hawaii, some 60 species of figs have been introduced, but only four of the wasps that fertilize them, so only those species of figs produce viable seeds there and can become invasive species. This is an example of mutualism, in which each organism (fig plant and fig wasp) benefit each other, in this case reproductively.{{cn|date=June 2023}}

The intimate association between fig species and their wasp pollinators, along with the high incidence of a one-to-one plant-pollinator ratio have long led scientists to believe that figs and wasps are a clear example of coevolution. Morphological and reproductive behavior evidence, such as the correspondence between fig and wasp larvae maturation rates, have been cited as support for this hypothesis for many years.{{cite journal |last1=Machado |first1=C. A. |last2=Jousselin |first2=E. |last3=Kjellberg |first3=F. |last4=Compton |first4=S. G. |last5=Herre |first5=E. A. |title=Phylogenetic relationships, historical biogeography and character evolution of fig-pollinating wasps |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=268 |issue=1468 |date=7 April 2001 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2000.1418 |pmid=11321056 |pmc=1088657 |pages=685–694}} Additionally, recent genetic and molecular dating analyses have shown a very close correspondence in the character evolution and speciation phylogenies of these two clades.{{sfnp|Rønsted et al.|2005}}

According to meta-analysis of molecular data for 119 fig species 35% (41) have multiple pollinator wasp species. The real proportion is higher because not all wasp species were detected.{{cite journal |last1=Yang |first1=Li-Yuan |last2=Machado |first2=Carlos A. |last3=Dang |first3=Xiao-Dong |last4=Peng |first4=Yan-Qiong |last5=Yang |first5=Da-Rong |last6=Zhang |first6=Da-Yong |last7=Liao |first7=Wan-Jin |title=The incidence and pattern of copollinator diversification in dioecious and monoecious figs |journal=Evolution |date=February 2015 |volume=69 |issue=2 |pages=294–304 |doi=10.1111/evo.12584 |pmid=25495152 |pmc=4328460}} On the other hand, species of wasps pollinate multiple host fig species.{{cite journal |last1=Machado |first1=C. A. |last2=Robbins |first2=N. |last3=Gilbert |first3=M. T. P. |last4=Herre |first4=E. A. |title=Critical review of host specificity and its coevolutionary implications in the fig/fig-wasp mutualism |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=102 |issue=Supplement 1 |date=3 May 2005 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0501840102 |pmid=15851680 |pmc=1131861 |pages=6558–6565 |bibcode=2005PNAS..102.6558M |doi-access=free}} Molecular techniques, like microsatellite markers and mitochondrial sequence analysis, allowed a discovery of multiple genetically distinct, cryptic wasp species. Not all these cryptic species are sister taxa and thus must have experienced a host fig shift at some point.{{cite journal |last1=Molbo |first1=D. |last2=Machado |first2=C.A. |last3=Sevenster |first3=J.G. |last4=Keller |first4=L. |last5=Herre |first5=E.A. |title=Cryptic species of fig-pollinating wasps: Implications for the evolution of the fig-wasp mutualism, sex allocation, and precision of adaptation |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=24 April 2003 |volume=100 |issue=10 |pages=5867–5872 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0930903100 |pmid=12714682 |pmc=156293 |bibcode=2003PNAS..100.5867M |doi-access=free}} These cryptic species lacked evidence of genetic introgression or backcrosses indicating limited fitness for hybrids and effective reproductive isolation and speciation.

The existence of cryptic species suggests that neither the number of symbionts nor their evolutionary relationships are necessarily fixed ecologically. While the morphological characteristics that facilitate the fig-wasp mutualisms are likely to be shared more fully in closer relatives, the absence of unique pairings would make it impossible to do a one-to-one tree comparison and difficult to determine cospeciation.{{cn|date=June 2023}}

With over 800 species, Ficus is by far the largest genus in the Moraceae, and is one of the largest genera of flowering plants currently described.{{cite book |last1=Judd |first1=W.S. |last2=Campbell |first2=C.S. |last3=Kellogg |first3=E.A. |last4=Stevens |first4=P.F. |last5=Donoghue |first5=M.J. |year=2008 |title=Plant Systematics: A phylogenetic approach |edition=3rd |location=Sunderland (Massachusetts) |publisher=Sinauer Associates |isbn=978-0-87893-407-2}} The species currently classified within Ficus were originally split into several genera in the mid-1800s, providing the basis for a subgeneric classification when reunited into one genus in 1867. This classification put functionally dioecious species into four subgenera based on floral characters. In 1965, E. J. H. Corner reorganized the genus on the basis of breeding system, uniting these four dioecious subgenera into a single dioecious subgenus Ficus. Monoecious figs were classified within the subgenera Urostigma, Pharmacosycea and Sycomorus.{{Cite journal |last1=Corner |first1=E.J.H. |author-link1=E. J. H. Corner |year=1965 |title=Check-list of Ficus in Asia and Australasia with keys to identification |journal=The Gardens' Bulletin Singapore |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=1–186 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/43581709 |via=biodiversitylibrary.org |access-date=5 Feb 2014}}

This traditional classification has been called into question by recent phylogenetic studies employing genetic methods to investigate the relationships between representative members of the various sections of each subgenus.{{sfnp|Rønsted et al.|2005}}{{cite journal |last=Weiblen |first=G.D. |year=2000 |title=Phylogenetic relationships of functionally dioecious Ficus (Moraceae) based on ribosomal DNA sequences and morphology |url=http://geo.cbs.umn.edu/Weiblen2000.pdf |journal=American Journal of Botany |volume=87 |issue=9 |pages=1342–1357 |access-date=2018-04-22 |doi=10.2307/2656726 |jstor=2656726 |pmid=10991904 |doi-access=free}}{{cite journal |last1=Herre |first1=E. |last2=Machado |first2=C.A. |last3=Bermingham |first3=E. |last4=Nason |first4=J.D. |last5=Windsor |first5=D.M. |last6=McCafferty |first6=S. |last7=Van Houten |first7=W. |last8=Bachmann |first8=K. |year=1996 |title=Molecular phylogenies of figs and their pollinator wasps |journal=Journal of Biogeography |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=521–530 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2699.1996.tb00014.x|bibcode=1996JBiog..23..521H }}{{cite journal |last1=Jousselin |first1=E. |last2=Rasplus |first2=J.-Y. |last3=Kjellberg |first3=F. |year=2003 |title=Convergence and coevolution in a mutualism: evidence from a molecular phylogeny of Ficus |journal=Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution |volume=57 |issue=6 |pages=1255–1269 |doi=10.1554/02-445 |pmid=12894934 |s2cid=1962136}}{{sfnp|Rønsted et al.|2008}} Of Corner's original subgeneric divisions of the genus, only Sycomorus is supported as monophyletic in the majority of phylogenetic studies.{{sfnp|Rønsted et al.|2005}} Notably, there is no clear split between dioecious and monoecious lineages.{{sfnp|Rønsted et al.|2005}}{{sfnp|Rønsted et al.|2008}} One of the two sections of Pharmacosycea, a monoecious group, form a monophyletic clade basal to the rest of the genus, which includes the other section of Pharmacosycea, the rest of the monoecious species, and all of the dioecious species.{{sfnp|Rønsted et al.|2008}} These remaining species are divided into two main monophyletic lineages (though the statistical support for these lineages is not as strong as for the monophyly of the more derived clades within them). One consists of all sections of Urostigma except for section Urostigma s. s.. The other includes section Urostigma s. s., subgenus Sycomorus, and the species of subgenus Ficus, though the relationships of the sections of these groups to one another are not well resolved.{{sfnp|Rønsted et al.|2005}}{{sfnp|Rønsted et al.|2008}}

==Selected species==

{{main|List of Ficus species|l1=List of Ficus species}}

As of April 2024, there are 880 accepted Ficus species according to Plants of the World Online.{{cite web |title=Ficus Tourn. ex L. |url=http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:327905-2 |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |access-date=22 April 2024}}

{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}

• Ficus amplissima Sm. – bat fig
• Ficus carica L. – common fig
• Ficus daimingshanensis Chang
• Ficus deltoidea Jack – mistletoe fig
• Ficus erecta Thunb. – Japanese fig
• Ficus fulva Reinw. ex Blume
• Ficus grossularioides Burman f. – white-leaved fig
• Ficus neriifolia Sm.
• Ficus palmata Forssk.
• Ficus pandurata Hance
• Ficus simplicissima Lour. (synonym Ficus hirta Vahl)
• Ficus triloba Buch.-Ham. ex Voigt

{{Div col end}}

{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}

• Ficus crassiuscula Standl.
• Ficus gigantosyce Dugand
• Ficus insipida Willd.
• Ficus lacunata Kvitvik
• Ficus maxima Mill.
• Ficus mutabilis Bureau
• Ficus nervosa Heyne ex Roth
• Ficus pulchella Schott
• Ficus yoponensis Desv.

{{Div col end}}

{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}

• Ficus andamanica Corner
• Ficus aspera G.Forst.
• Ficus assamica Miq.
• Ficus bojeri Baker
• Ficus capreifolia Delile
• Ficus coronata Spin – creek sandpaper fig
• Ficus fraseri Miq. – shiny sandpaper fig
• Ficus heterophylla L.f.
• Ficus lateriflora Vahl
• Ficus montana Burm.f. – oakleaf fig
• Ficus opposita Miq. – sweet sandpaper fig
• Ficus phaeosyce K.Schum. & Lauterb.
• Ficus tinctoria G.Forst. – dye fig
• Ficus ulmifolia Lam.
• Ficus wassa Roxb.
• Ficus parietalis
• Ficus sinuata
• Ficus hampelas

{{Div col end}}

{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}

• Ficus auriculata Lour. – Roxburgh fig
• Ficus bernaysii King
• Ficus brusii Weiblen– lowland form of breadfruit, kapiak
• Ficus dammaropsis Diels – highland breadfruit, kapiak
• Ficus fistulosa Blume
• Ficus hispida L.
• Ficus nota Merr. – tibig
• Ficus pseudopalma Blanco
• Ficus racemosa L. – cluster fig
• Ficus septica Burm.f. – hauli tree
• Ficus sycomorus L., 1753 – sycamore fig (Africa)
• Ficus variegata Blume

{{Div col end}}

The following species{{sfnp|Berg|2003}} are typically spreading or climbing lianas:

{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}

• Ficus hederacea Roxb.{{sfnp|Berg|2003|page=552}}
• Ficus pantoniana King{{sfnp|Berg|2003|page=554}} – climbing fig
• Ficus pumila L.{{sfnp|Berg|2003|page=553}} – creeping fig
• Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang (Makino) Corner – jelly fig
• Ficus punctata Thunb.{{sfnp|Berg|2003|pages=565}}
• Ficus sagittata J. König ex Vahl
• Ficus sarmentosa Buch.-Ham. ex Sm.
• Ficus trichocarpa Blume
• Ficus villosa Blume{{sfnp|Berg|2003|pages=553–554}}

{{Div col end}}

{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}

• Ficus abutilifolia Miq.
• Ficus albert-smithii Standl.
• Ficus altissima Blume
• Ficus amazonica Miq.
• Ficus americana Aubl.
• Ficus aripuanensis Berg & Kooy
• Ficus arpazusa Carauta and Diaz – Brazil{{sfnp|Carauta|Diaz|2002|pages=38–39}}
• Ficus aurea Nutt. – Florida strangler fig
• Ficus beddomei King – thavital
• Ficus benghalensis L. – Indian banyan
• Ficus benjamina L. – weeping fig{{cite web |url=https://www.figweb.org/Ficus/Subgenus_Urostigma/Section_Urostigma/Subsection_Conosycea/index.htm |last1=van Noort |first1=S. |last2=Rasplus |first2=J.Y. |date=2020 |work=Figweb: figs and fig wasps of the world |title=Subsection Conosycea |access-date=11 August 2019}}
• Ficus binnendijkii Miq.
• Ficus bizanae Hutch. & Burtt-Davy
• Ficus blepharophylla Vázquez Avila
• Ficus broadwayi Urb.
• Ficus burtt-davyi Hutch.
• Ficus calyptroceras Miq.
• Ficus castellviana Dugand
• Ficus catappifolia Kunth & Bouché
• Ficus citrifolia Mill. – short-leaved fig
• Ficus consociata Bl.
• Ficus cordata Thunb.
• Ficus costata Ait.
• Ficus crassipes F.M.Bailey – round-leaved banana fig
• Ficus craterostoma Mildbr. & Burret
• Ficus cyathistipula Warb.
• Ficus cyclophylla (Miq.) Miq.
• Ficus dendrocida Kunth
• Ficus depressa Bl.
• Ficus destruens F.White
• Ficus drupacea Thunb.
• Ficus elastica Hornem. – rubber plant
• Ficus exasperata Vahl.
• Ficus faulkneriana Berg
• Ficus fergusonii (King) T.B.Worth. ex Corner
• Ficus glaberrima Blume
• Ficus glumosa Delile
• Ficus greiffiana Dugand
• Ficus hirsuta Schott
• Ficus ilicina Miq.
• Ficus kerkhovenii Valeton{{cite web |url=http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/heritage/changi/changitrees/index.html |author1=Joseph Lai |author2=Angie Ng |author3=Chuah Ai Lin |author4=Marilyn Cheng |title=Significant Trees and Shrubs in Changi |date=12 September 2002 |access-date=2012-01-05}} – Johore fig
• Ficus kurzii King
• Ficus luschnathiana Miq.
• Ficus ingens Miq.
• Ficus krukovii Standl.
• Ficus lacor Buch.-Ham.
• Ficus lapathifolia Miq.
• Ficus lauretana Vázquez Avila
• Ficus lutea Vahl
• Ficus lyrata Warb. – fiddle-leaved fig
• Ficus maclellandii King – Alii fig
• Ficus macrophylla Desf. ex Pers. – Moreton Bay fig
• Ficus malacocarpa Standl.
• Ficus mariae Berg, Emygdio & Carauta
• Ficus mathewsii Miq.
• Ficus matiziana Dugand
• Ficus microcarpa L. – Chinese banyan
• Ficus muelleriana Berg
• Ficus natalensis Hochst. – Natal fig
• Ficus obliqua G.Forst. – small-leaved fig
• Ficus obtusifolia Kunth
• Ficus pakkensis Standl.
• Ficus pallida Vahl
• Ficus panurensis Standl.
• Ficus pertusa L.f.
• Ficus petiolaris Kunth
• Ficus pisocarpa Bl.
• Ficus platypoda Cunn. – desert fig
• Ficus pleurocarpa DC. – banana fig
• Ficus polita Vahl
• Ficus religiosa L. – sacred fig
• Ficus roraimensis Berg
• Ficus rubiginosa Desf. – Port Jackson fig
• Ficus rumphii Blume
• Ficus salicifolia Vahl – willow-leaved fig
• Ficus sansibarica Warb.
• Ficus schippii Standl.
• Ficus schultesii Dugand
• Ficus schumacheri Griseb.
• Ficus sphenophylla Standl.
• Ficus stuhlmannii Warb.
• Ficus subcordata Bl.
• Ficus subpisocarpa Gagnep.
• Ficus subpuberula Corner
• Ficus sumatrana Miq.
• Ficus superba Miq.
• Ficus superba var. henneana (Miq.) Corner
• Ficus thonningii Blume
• Ficus trichopoda Baker
• Ficus trigona L.f.
• Ficus trigonata L.
• Ficus triradiata Corner – red-stipule fig
• Ficus ursina Standl.
• Ficus velutina Willd.
• Ficus verruculosa Warb.
• Ficus virens Aiton – white fig
• Ficus virens var. sublanceolata (Miq.) Corner – sour fig
• Ficus watkinsiana F.M.Bailey – Watkins' fig

{{Div col end}}

{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}

• Ficus bibracteata
• Ficus callosa Willd.
• Ficus cristobalensis
• Ficus hebetifolia
• Ficus punctata
• Ficus tsjahela Burm.f.
• Ficus nymphaeifolia Mill.

{{Div col end}}

The wood of fig trees is often soft and the latex precludes its use for many purposes. It was used to make mummy caskets in Ancient Egypt. Certain fig species (mainly F. cotinifolia, F. insipida and F. padifolia) are traditionally used in Mesoamerica to produce papel amate (Nahuatl: āmatl). Mutuba (F. natalensis) is used to produce barkcloth in Uganda. Pou (F. religiosa) leaves' shape inspired one of the standard kbach rachana, decorative elements in Cambodian architecture. Indian banyan (F. benghalensis) and the Indian rubber plant, as well as other species, have use in herbalism.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}} The inner bark of an unknown type of wild fig, locally known as urú, was once used by the {{ill|Moré people|es|Pueblo moré}} of Bolivia to produce a fibrous cloth used for clothing.{{cite book |last=Castedo |first=Luis D. Leigue |date=1957 |title=El Itenez Selvaje |url=https://www.andesacd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/El-It%C3%A9nez-Salvaje.pdf |location=La Paz |publisher=Ministerio de Educación |page=9, 16, 19, 23 |language=es}}

Figs have figured prominently in some human cultures. There is evidence that figs, specifically the common fig (F. carica) and sycamore fig (Ficus sycomorus), were among the first plant species that were deliberately bred for agriculture in the Middle East, starting more than 11,000 years ago. Nine subfossil F. carica figs dated to about 9400–9200 BCE were found in the early Neolithic village Gilgal I (in the Jordan Valley, 13 km, or 8.1 mi, north of Jericho). These were a parthenogenetic type and thus apparently an early cultivar. This find predates the first known cultivation of grain in the Middle East by many hundreds of years.{{sfnp|Kislev|Hartmann|Bar-Yosef|2006}}

Numerous species of fig are found in cultivation in domestic and office environments, including:{{cite book |editor-last=Brickell |editor-first=Christopher |title=The Royal Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants |year=2008 |page=448 |publisher=Dorling Kindersley |location=United Kingdom |isbn=9781405332965}}

• F. carica, common fig – hardy to {{convert|-10 |C|F|abbr=on}}. Shrub or small tree which can be grown outdoors in mild temperate regions, producing substantial harvests of fruit. Many cultivars are available.
• F. benjamina, weeping fig, ficus – hardy to {{convert| 5|C|F|abbr=on}}. Widely used as an indoor plant for the home or the office. It benefits from the dry, warm atmosphere of centrally-heated interiors, and can grow to substantial heights in a favoured position. Several variegated cultivars are available.
• F. elastica, rubber plant – hardy to {{convert|10 |C|F|abbr=on}}: widely cultivated as a houseplant; several cultivars with variegated leaves
• F. lyrata, fiddle-leaf fig – hardy to {{convert|10 |C|F|abbr=on}}
• F. maclellandii – hardy to {{convert|5 |C|F|abbr=on}}
• F. microcarpa, Indian laurel – hardy to {{convert|10 |C|F|abbr=on}}
• F. pumila, creeping fig – hardy to {{convert|1 |C|F|abbr=on}}
• F. rubiginosa, Port Jackson fig – hardy to {{convert|10 |C|F|abbr=on}}

{{Further|Fig leaf|Figs in the Bible}}

Fig trees have profoundly influenced culture through several religious traditions. Among the more famous species are the sacred fig tree (Pipal, bodhi, bo, or po, Ficus religiosa) and other banyan figs such as Ficus benghalensis. The oldest living plant of known planting date is a Ficus religiosa tree known as the Sri Maha Bodhi planted in the temple at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka by King Tissa in 288 BCE. In Asia, figs are important in Buddhism and Hinduism. The Buddha is traditionally held to have found bodhi (enlightenment) while meditating for 49 days under a sacred fig.{{cite web |url=https://buddhists.org/buddhist-art/the-bodhi-tree/ |title=The Bodhi Tree: Uniting all Worlds |website=Buddhists.org |access-date=17 January 2020}} The same species was Ashvattha, the "world tree" of Hinduism. The Plaksa Pra-sravana was said to be a fig tree between the roots of which the Sarasvati River sprang forth; it is usually held to be a sacred fig but more probably is Ficus virens. In Jainism, the consumption of any fruit belonging to this genus is prohibited.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B0IYAAAAIAAJ |title=Compendium of Jainism |last1=Tukol |first1=T.K. |year=1980 |author-link=T. K. Tukol |location=Prasaranga |publisher=Karnatak University |page=206}} The common fig is one of two significant trees in Islam, and there is a sura in Quran named "The Fig" or At-Tin (سوره تین). The common fig tree is cited in the Bible: Adam and Eve cover their nakedness with fig leaves. The fig fruit is one of the traditional crops of Israel, and is included in the list of food found in the Promised Land. The fig tree was sacred in ancient Greece and Cyprus, where it was a symbol of fertility.{{cn|date=June 2023}}

• Ashvattha – the world tree of Hinduism, held to be a supernatural F. religiosa
• Bodhi tree – a F. religiosa
• Charybdis Fig Tree of Homer's Odyssey, presumably a F. carica
• Curtain Fig Tree – a F. virens
• Ficus Ruminalis – a F. carica
• Plaksa – another supernatural fig in Hinduism; usually identified as F. religiosa but is probably F. virens
• Santa Barbara's Moreton Bay Fig Tree – a F. macrophylla
• Sri Maha Bodhi – another F. religiosa, planted in 288 BCE, the oldest human-planted tree on record
• The Barren Fig Tree – Matthew 21:19 of the Christian Bible, Jesus put a curse on the tree and used this as an example for believers of the promise of the power faith in the only true God. ''
• The Great Banyan – a F. benghalensis, a clonal colony and once the largest organism known
• Vidurashwatha – "Vidura's Sacred Fig Tree", a village in India named after a famous F. religiosa that until recently stood there
• Wonderboom – the largest fig tree in Pretoria, South Africa, which has grown very large, through self-layering(limbs laying in the ground take root).

{{reflist}}

{{Refbegin|30em}}

• {{cite journal |last=Berg |first=C.C. |title=Flora Malesiana Precursor for the Treatment of Moraceae 4: Ficus subgenus Synoecia |journal=Blumea |volume=48 |issue=3 |pages=551–571 |date=28 November 2003 |doi=10.3767/000651903X489546 |bibcode=2003Blume..48..551B |url=http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/document/565443 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Berg |first1=C.C. |last2=Hijmann |first2=M.E.E. |title=Flora of Tropical East Africa |year=1989 |editor=R.M. Polhill |chapter=Chapter 11: Ficus |pages=43–86}}
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• {{cite book |author-link=Ira J. Condit |last=Condit |first=Ira J |date=1969 |title=Ficus: the exotic species |publisher=University of California, Division of Agricultural Sciences |oclc=1086743649}}
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• {{cite journal |last1=Kislev |first1=Mordechai E. |last2=Hartmann |first2=Anat |last3=Bar-Yosef |first3=Ofer |year=2006 |title=Early Domesticated Fig in the Jordan Valley |journal=Science |volume=312 |issue=5778 |pages=1372–1374 |doi=10.1126/science.1125910 |pmid=16741119 |bibcode=2006Sci...312.1372K |s2cid=42150441}} [http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/sci;312/5778/1372/DC1 Supporting Online Material]
• {{cite journal |ref=none |last1=Kislev |first1=Mordechai E. |last2=Hartmann |first2=Anat |last3=Bar-Yosef |first3=Ofer |year=2006 |title=Response to Comment on "Early Domesticated Fig in the Jordan Valley" |journal=Science |volume=314 |issue=5806 |page=1683b |doi=10.1126/science.1133748 |pmid=17170278 |bibcode=2006Sci...314.1683K |s2cid=84471716 |doi-access=}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Lev-Yadun |first1=Simcha |last2=Ne'eman |first2=Gidi |last3=Abbo |first3=Shahal |last4=Flaishman |first4=Moshe A |year=2006 |title=Comment on "Early Domesticated Fig in the Jordan Valley" |journal=Science |volume=314 |issue=5806 |page=1683a |doi=10.1126/science.1132636 |pmid=17170278 |bibcode=2006Sci...314.1683L |s2cid=45767896 |doi-access=}}
• {{cite book |last1=Lewington |first1=Anna |last2=Parker |first2=Edward |year=1999 |title=Ancient trees: Trees that live for 1000 years |location=London |publisher=Collins & Brown |isbn=978-18-5585-704-9}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Rønsted |first1=Nina |last2=Weiblen |first2=George D. |last3=Cook |first3=James M. |last4=Salamin |first4=Nicholas |last5=Machado |first5=Carlos A. |last6=Savoainen |first6=Vincent |year=2005 |title=60 million years of co-divergence in the fig-wasp symbiosis |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=272 |issue=1581 |pages=2593–2599 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2005.3249 |pmid=16321781 |ref={{harvid|Rønsted et al.|2005}} |pmc=1559977}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Rønsted |first1=N |last2=Weiblen |first2=G.D. |last3=Clement |first3=W.L. |last4=Zerega |first4=N.J.C. |last5=Savolainen |first5=V. |year=2008 |title=Reconstructing the phylogeny of figs (Ficus, Moraceae) to reveal the history of the fig pollination mutualism |url=http://geo.cbs.umn.edu/RonstedEtAl2008a.pdf |journal=Symbiosis |volume=45 |issn=0334-5114 |ref={{harvid|Rønsted et al.|2008}} }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Shanahan |first1=M. |last2=Compton |first2=S. G. |last3=So |first3=Samson |last4=Corlett |first4=Richard |year=2001 |title=Fig-eating by vertebrate frugivores: a global review |journal=Biological Reviews |volume=76 |issue=4 |pages=529–572 |doi=10.1017/S1464793101005760 |pmid=11762492 |s2cid=27827864}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20091019170541/http://geocities.com/mikeshanahan/figs/figreview.html Electronic appendices]
• {{cite journal |last1=van Noort |first1=Simon |last2=van Harten |first2=Antonius |title=The species richness of fig wasps (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Agaonidae, Pteromalidae) in Yemen |journal=Fauna of Arabia |year=2006 |volume=22 |pages=449–472 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230600455 |access-date=2013-01-01 }}

{{Refend}}

{{Commons category|Ficus}}

• [http://www.figweb.org/Ficus/index.htm Figweb]—Major reference site for the genus Ficus
• [http://www.catalogueoflife.org/annual-checklist/2019/browse/classification/kingdom/Plantae/genus/Ficus/fossil/0/match/1 World checklist of Ficus species from the Catalogue of Life], 845 species supplied by M. Hassler's World Plants.
• [http://www.figweb.org/Interaction/Video/index.htm Video: Interaction of figs and fig wasps]—Multi-award-winning documentary
• [http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/fig.html Fruits of Warm Climates: Fig]
• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5038116.stm BBC: Fig fossil clue to early farming]
• [https://www.etawau.com/Flora/Family__Moraceae/Genus_Ficus.htm Checklist of Ficus species in Borneo Island]

Video

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCUtpmwacoE How the fig tree strangles other plants for survival in the rainforest]

{{Moraceae genera}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q59798}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Moraceae genera

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus