Common Name:

General Information

Ficus septica is a shrub or atree, often with pendulous branches; it can grow from 3 - 25 metres tall. The bole can be up to 30cm in diameter[, , , ].
The tree is harvested from the wild for local medicinal uses. It can be used as a pioneer plant when restoring woodland.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

,

Range

E. Asia - southern Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, New Guinea, northern Australia, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu.

Habitat

Secondary rain forest and scrub vegetation, on various soil types, at elevations up to 1,800 metres[]. Areas of well developed rain forest on a variety of sites. It is favoured by disturbance and is a frequent component of rain forest regrowth[].

Properties

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

Cultivation Details

Found in the wild in a range of soil types[].
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[].
A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

The latex is used to cure certain varieties of herpes and wounds caused by poisonous fish[, ].The latex of the leaves and fruits is used to produce purging[].

The leaves are used as a sudorific to treat headache[]. The dried leaves were formerly used as a substitute for opium or mixed with it[].
The leaves, applied externally, are said to be antirheumatic[, ]. They are applied to cure colds, coughs, fever and fungal and bacterial diseases[].

Root scrapings, or the leaves, have been mixed with water and drunk to cure dysentery or diarrhoea[].

The roots are antiasthmatic, antidote, antiemetic and diuretic[, ]. The crushed root, mixed with coconut water, is drunk daily to treat urinary tract infections[].
The roots are used as a poultice on boils[].

The fruits are emetic[].

Stem bark material of this species was active against tumor cell cultures. The main alkaloids are tylocrebrine and tylophorine[].

Agroforestry Uses:

This species is favoured by disturbance and is a frequent component of rain forest regrowth[]. It is often found as a pioneer in regrowth in various soil types, especially granitic alluvium[]. It is thus a good candidate for use as a pioneer species when restoring woodland and could be used outside its native range because it would not be able to reproduce fruit and seed due to the absence of a pollinating wasp[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed -

Add a Comment:

If you have any useful information about this plant, please leave a comment. Comments have to be approved before they are shown here.

Name:

Email(Private):

Message:

Captcha: what is half of 6?