Common Name:

General Information

Ficus aurea is a tree with a wide, spreading crown; it can grow up to 20 metres tall[, ]. The bole can be 90 - 120cm in diameter[]. It often starts life as an epiphyte in the branch of a tree and can eventually send down aerial roots that, once they reach the ground, provide extra nutrients that help the plant grow more vigorously. These aerial roots can completely encircle the trunk of the host tree, constricting its growth - this, coupled with the more vigorous top growth, can lead to the fig outcompeting and killing the tree in which it is growing[, , ]. The broad, spreading, lower limbs are festooned with secondary roots which create many slim but rigid trunks once they reach the ground and take hold[].
The tree is sometimes harvested from the wild for local use as a food and medicine. It is often grown as an ornamental[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

C. America - Panama to Guatemala and Mexico; Western Caribbean; Southeastern N. America - Florida.

Habitat

Hummocks on the shores and islands[]. Forest or open hillsides, about 300 metres[].

Properties

Weed Potential	Yes
Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	20.00 m
Growth Rate	Fast
Pollinators	Wasps
Cultivation Status	Ornamental, Wild

Cultivation Details

An easily grown and very tolerant plant, it succeeds in full sun to partial shade[]. Succeeds in a range of well-drained soils from sandy to clay, including fairly acid or alkaline conditions[]. Plants are tolerant of occasional inundation of the soil[]. Moderately tolerant of salt-laden winds[]. Plants are very drought tolerant[].
Seeds germinate easily in the landscape allowing the tree to invade nearby land[]. Some care, therefore, needs to be taken that the species of wasp that fertilizes this plant is not introduced into areas where the plant is grown as an ornamental[].
A fast-growing tree[].
The plant produces surface roots that can lift sidewalks or interfere with mowing[].
When grown as an ornamental, the many slim but rigid trunks that are produced from the crown can become a maintenance headache as they roots need to be removed to keep a neat-looking landscape. The shiny, thick, dark green leaves create dense shade and the surface roots add to the problem of maintaining a lawn beneath this massive tree. The fruit drops and makes a mess beneath the tree[].
Fig trees have a unique form of fertilization, each species relying on a single, highly specialized species of wasp that is itself totaly dependant upon that fig species in order to breed. The trees produce three types of flower; male, a long-styled female and a short-styled female flower, often called the gall flower. All three types of flower are contained within the structure we usually think of as the fruit.
The female fig wasp enters a fig and lays its eggs on the short styled female flowers while pollinating the long styled female flowers. Wingless male fig wasps emerge first, inseminate the emerging females and then bore exit tunnels out of the fig for the winged females. Females emerge, collect pollen from the male flowers and fly off in search of figs whose female flowers are receptive. In order to support a population of its pollinator, individuals of a Ficus spp. Must flower asynchronously. A population must exceed a critical minimum size to ensure that at any time of the year at least some plants have overlap of emmission and reception of fig wasps. Without this temporal overlap the short-lived pollinator wasps will go locally extinct[].

Edible Uses

Fruit[].

The latex is used to prepare a masticatory rubber[].

Medicinal

The latex is used as a medicament for expelling intestinal parasites[].

Other Uses

A latex is obtained from the plant. It can be used as a masticatory[].

The heartwood is light brown, the sap-wood lighter. The wood is coarse-grained, compact, exceedingly light, soft, very weak, not durable[]. It is little, if at all, used - not even for fuel[].

Propagation

Seed -

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