Common Name:

General Information

Ficus copiosa is an evergreen tree that can grow up from 5 - 20 metres tall[, ]. The straight bole is slender[].
This is one of the most widely used of the edible fig leaves in New Guinea, where the tree is sometimes cultivated as a food crop and is also grown as a hedge[, , ].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

,

Range

Southeast Asia - Indonesia; through New Guinea, northern Australia, Palau, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu.

Habitat

Found in both coastal and inland regions, in primary and secondary forest, at elevations up to 1,700 metres[]. Grows in well developed rain forest on a variety of sites but is probably more common in some of the drier more seasonal areas[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	15.00 m
Pollinators	Wasps
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

The tree can commence fruiting when still a shrub only 3 metres tall[].
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

Young leaves - raw or cooked[, ].

Fruit - raw or cooked[, ]. Figs axillary to cauliflorous, slightly depressed-globose, 25 - 60mm in diameter[].

Medicinal

The unripe fruits are chewed to relieve stomach-ache[, ].

The latex from fresh (unripe?) fruits is applied to boils[, ].

Fresh leaves are used as an antidote to poison, helping to excrete the toxins[, ].

The roots and leaves are used to treat stomach-ache[, ].
Massaging the stomach with crushed leaves is said to relieve stomach-ache[].

Agroforestry Uses:

The trees are sometimes grown as a hedge, being pruned regularly to increase branching[]. It is used as a dividing hedge between garden plots in new Guinea[].

Other Uses

A fibre obtained from the bark is used for making clothing and ropes[, ].

The fibrous branches can be used to clean the teeth[].

The leaves of some species are used to wrap food for cooking[].

The leaves of some species are quite rough and can be used as a sandpaper substitute and for scouring pots[].

The wood of plants in this genus is usually of low quality, light in weight, soft and not very durable. It is sometimes used for purposes such as light construction, digging sticks, yam stakes, etc.
The wood is also used for fuel and sometimes for making fire by friction[].

Propagation

Seed -
Cuttings[].
Air layering[].

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