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Ficus carica

(Brevo)

Overview

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Shrub or small, native to Asia, fruit eaten raw as a dessert, dried, and preserved; all parts of fruit edible. The yield in warm countries such as Greece is about 1,600 lbs . per acre .

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Burmese:

Thaphan, Thinbaw Thapan

Common Names in Chinese:

Wu Hua Guo

Common Names in Croatian:

Divja Smokva, Divja Smokva Gluica, Gluha Smokva, Gluica, Smokva, Smokva-Gluhaa, Smokvenica, Smokvina

Common Names in Danish:

Almindelig Figen

Common Names in Dutch:

Gewone Vijgeboom, Vijg, Vijgeboom, Vijgeboom;echte Vijgeboom

Common Names in English:

Brevo, Caprifig, Common Fig, Cultivated Fig, Edible Fig, Fig, Fig Tree, Fiku, Higo, Piku, Wild Fig, Wild Mediterranean Fig

Common Names in Finnish:

Viikuna

Common Names in French:

Figue, Figue Commune, Figuier Commun

Common Names in German:

Echte Feige, Echter Feigenbaum, Feige, Feigenbaum

Common Names in Gujarati:

Anjir

Common Names in Hindi:

Anjeer, Anjir, अंजीर

Common Names in Italian:

Fico, Fico Comune

Common Names in Japanese:

Ichijiku

Common Names in Kannada:

Anjura, Simeyam

Common Names in Korean:

Mu Hwa Gwa Na Mu

Common Names in Macedonian:

Smoka

Common Names in Marathi:

Anjir

Common Names in Portuguese:

Behereira, Caprifigos (Brazil), Figo, Figos Do Tipo, Figos Do Tipo Comum (Brazil), Figos Do Tipo São Pedro (Brazil), Figos Do Tipo Smirna (Brazil), Figueira, Figueira-Comum, Figueira-Da-Europa, Figueira-Do-Reino

Common Names in Russian:

Inžir, инжир

Common Names in Sanskrit:

Anjir (Anjeer), Anjira, Kakodomar, Phalgu

Common Names in Serbian:

Smoka, Smokovnica, Smokva

Common Names in Slovenian:

Figa, Figovec, Figovina, Smokvovec

Common Names in Spanish:

Higo, Higuera, Higuera Común

Common Names in Swedish:

Fikon, Fikonträd

Common Names in Tamil:

Cimaiyatti, Simaiyatti

Common Names in Urdu:

Anjeer

Description

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Family Moraceae

Trees , shrubs , vines , or rarely herbs, frequently with milky or watery latex, sometimes spiny . Stipules present, frequently caducous . Leaves alternate, rarely opposite; petiole often present and well-defined; leaf blade simple , sometimes with cystoliths , margin entire or palmately lobed , venation pinnate or palmate. Inflorescences axillary , frequently paired , racemose, spicate , capitate, or rarely cymose , sometimes a fig or syconium with flowers completely enclosed within a hollow receptacle. Flowers unisexual (plants monoecious or dioecious), small to very small. Calyx lobes (1 or) 2-4(-8), free or connate , imbricate or valvate . Corolla absent. Male flowers: stamens as many as and opposite to calyx lobes (except in Artocarpus), straight or inflexed in bud; anthers 1- or 2-loculed, crescent-shaped to top-shaped; pistillode (rudimentary sterile pistil) often present. Female flowers: calyx lobes usually 4; ovary superior, semi-inferior, or inferior, 1(or 2) -loculed; ovules 1 per locule, anatropous or campylotropous; style branches 1 or 2; stigmas usually filiform . Fruit usually a drupe, rarely an achene, enveloped by an enlarged calyx and/or immersed in a fleshy receptacle, often joined into a syncarp. Seed solitary; endosperm present or absent.

Between 37 and 43 genera and 1100â1400 species: widespread in tropical and subtropical areas, less common in temperate areas; nine genera and 144 species (26 endemic, five introduced ) in China.

Economically, the most important species are those of Morus and Maclura associated with the production of silk . Some species in Broussonetia, Maclura, and Morus are important for paper making; some species in Artocarpus, Ficus, and Morus have edible fruit; and some species of Artocarpus and Broussonetia are used for furniture or timber.[1]

Genus Ficus

Trees , shrubs , or woody vines , evergreen or deciduous, commonly epiphytic or scandent as seedlings; sap milky . Terminal buds surrounded by pair of stipules. Leaves alternate, monomorphic (dimorphic in F . pumila ) ; stipules caducous , fused, enclosing naked buds. Leaf blade : margins entire (lobed in F . carica ), rarely dentate ; venation pinnate or nearly palmate. Inflorescences small, borne on inner walls of fruitlike and fleshy receptacle (syconium) . Flowers: staminate and pistillate on same plant. Staminate flowers sessile or pedicellate ; calyx of 2-6 sepals; stamens 1-2, straight. Pistillate flowers sessile; ovary 1-locular; style unbranched, lateral . Syconia globose to pyriform ; achenes completely embedded in enlarged, fleshy, common receptacle and accessible by apical opening (ostiole) closed by small scales . x = 13.

Species ca. 750: tropics and subtropics, chiefly Asian.

Worldwide, Ficus is one of the largest genera of flowering plants . Members of the genus are usually treated as a separate tribe within Moraceae because of their unique inflorescence and wasp-dependent system of pollination.

The floral characters (especially of the American species, which are quite uniform ) are exceedingly difficult to use or of little value in distinguishing species. Therefore they are not used in the species descriptions. The form of the syconium, however, is often significant and taxonomically useful.[2]

Physical Description

Species Ficus carica

Shrubs or small trees , deciduous, to 5 m. Roots not adventitious. Bark grayish, slightly roughened. Branchlets pubescent . Leaves: stipules 1-1.2 cm; petiole 8-20 cm. Leaf 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. 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 . [source]

Habit: Tree , Shrub

Flowers: Bloom Period: February, March, April, May, June, July. • Flower Color: inconspicuous, none

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 6-8' tall.

Habitat

Disturbed sites; 0-300 m ; introduced [3].

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 4,653 meters (0 to 15,266 feet).[4]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Soil: Minimum pH: 6.6 • Maximum pH: 8.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b. (map)

Taxonomy

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Similar Species

Members of the genus Ficus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 164 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

F. afghanistanica (Fig Tree) · F. albert-smithii (Figueira-Do-Alberto) · F. altissima (Council Tree) · F. altissima 'Aureo Variegata' (Council Tree) · F. amazonica (Figueira-Amaz) · F. americana (Jamaican Cherry Fig) · F. aripuanensis (Figueira-De-Aripuana) · F. arnottiana (Crow Fig (Ceylon)) · F. aspera (Mosaic Fig) · F. aurea (Florida Strangler Fig) · F. auriculata (Elephant Ear Fig Tree) · F. bengalensis (Banyan Tree) · F. benghalensis (Ban Yan) · F. benghalensis 'Bengal Tiger' (Ban Yan) · F. benjamina (Benjamin Fig) · F. benjamina 'Exotica' (Exotic Fig) · F. benjamina 'Golden Princess' (Weeping Chinese Banyan) · F. Benjamina 'Jamie K' (Chinese Banyan) · F. benjamina 'Natasha' (Miniature Ficus) · F. benjamina 'Starlight' (Chinese Banyan) · F. benjamina 'Variegata' (Chinese Banyan) · F. benjamina 'Wintergreen' (Chinese Banyan) · F. binnendijkii (Long-Leaf Fig) · F. binnendykii (Narrow Leaf Ficus) · F. blepharophylla (Mulemb) · F. broadwayi (Gameleira-Do-Cerrado) · F. calyptroceras (Gameleira-Branca) · F. capensis (Broom Cluster Fig) · F. carica (Brevo) · F. carica 'Alma' (Fig Tree) · F. carica 'Black Jack' (Black Jack Fig) · F. carica 'Black Mission' (Common Fig) · F. carica 'Brown Turkey' (Brown Turkey Fig) · F. carica 'Calimyrna' (Common Fig) · F. carica 'Celeste' (Common Fig) · F. carica 'Desert King' (Common Fig) · F. carica 'Italian Honey' (Fig) · F. carica 'Kadota' (Fig Tree) · F. carica 'Lsu Purple' (Common Fig) · F. carica 'Magnolia' (Common Fig) · F. carica 'Mission' (Mission Fig) · F. carica 'Osborn's Prolific' (Osborn's Prolific Fig) · F. carica 'Peter's Honey' (Peter's Honey Fig) · F. carica 'Petite Negra' (Common Fig) · F. carica 'Verte' (Common Fig) · F. carica 'Violette Du Bordeaux' (Common Fig) · F. carica 'Violette Normande' (Common Fig) · F. carica 'White Adriatic' (Common Fig) · F. castellviana (Figueira-De-Rond) · F. catappifolia (Falsa-Catapa) · F. citrifolia (Shortleaf Fig) · F. clusiifolia (Red-Fig Tree) · F. communis (Atlantic Figsnail) · F. congesta (Red Leaf Fig) · F. cordata (Namaqua Fig Tree) · F. cordata salicifolia (Wonderboom Fig (South Africa)) · F. coronata (Sandpaper Fig) · F. cotinifolia (Strangler Fig) · F. craterostoma (Forest Fig) · F. cyclophylla (Gameleira-Grande) · F. dammaropsis (Dinner Plate Fig) · F. deltoidea (Delta Fig) · F. dendrocida (Mata-Pau) · F. destruens (Rusty Fig) · F. drupacea (Brown-Woolly Fig) · F. drupacea var. pubescens (Fig) · F. elastica (Indian Rubberplant) · F. elastica 'Variegata' (Rubber Tree) · F. elastica var. Burgundy (Rubber Tree) · F. elastica 'Decora' (Rubber Tree) · F. elastica 'Honduras' (Rubber Plant) · F. elastica 'Sylvia' (Rubber Tree) · F. erecta (Inu-Biwa) · F. fraseri (Sandpaper Fig) · F. geniculata (Dotted Fig) · F. glumosa (Mountain Rock Fig) · F. gnaphalocarpa (Quicuio) · F. godeffroyi (Fig) · F. greiffiana (Figueira-De-Greif) · F. hirsuta (Molemb) · F. hispida (Boombil) · F. infectoria (White-Fruited Wavy Leaf Fig Tree) · F. ingens (Red-Leaved Rock Fig) · F. insipida (Red Fig (Belize)) · F. krukovii (Figueira-De-Krukoff) · F. lacor (Java Fig) · F. luschnathiana (Agarrapalo) · F. lutea (Big Leaved Fig) · F. lyrata (Fiddle Fig) · F. maclellandii (Alii Bush) · F. maclellandii 'Alii' (Banana-Leaf Ficus) · F. macrocarpa (Moreton Bay Fig) · F. macrophylla (Moreton Bay Fig) · F. macrophylla columnaris (Lord Howe Island Banyan) · F. malacocarpa (Cumacabali) · F. matiziana (Figueria-De-Matiz) · F. mexiae (Figueira-De-Mexia) · F. microcarpa var. crassifolia 'Green Mound' (Ficus) · F. microcarpa 'Green Island' (Dwarf Ficus) · F. microcarpa 'Hawaii' (Chinese Banyan)

More Info

Further Reading

Notes

Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 11, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Zhengyi Wu, Zhe-Kun Zhou & Michael G. Gilbert "Moraceae". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 21. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Ficus". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. "Ficus carica". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  4. Mean = 271.580 meters (891.011 feet), Standard Deviation = 505.350 based on 1,355 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 2012-04-18