Ficus pumila L

by Bob G. Cannon II

Ficus pumila L Family Moraceae is a creeping or climbing fig native to East Asia.

Sensitive to cold it is usually confined to zones 9 – 11 in the USA. Creeping fig is also sold as a popular terrarium and house plant in much of the world. When temperatures permit it to survive as a landscape plant it can be an aggressive grower.

It is in its juvenile form when sold as a container plant having small leaves and no fruit. If conditions permit the plant to mature it eventually produces adult foliage and fruit. (see images). It has been used as a bonsai plant by some and has also been seen to 'strangle' trees it was planted upon.

Propagation is by seed, cutting, grafting and tissue culture for select clones.

Most people of European or North American descent have no use for the figs this plant produces, many believe them not only inedible but toxic. Some Asians in Taiwan and Singapore scrape the ripe seeds out of the fruit and stir them 15 to 20 minutes then filter the water. This water forms a firm jell (refrigeration is NOT a part of the process) and is then consumed as a delicacy. The jell may be flavored in several ways. This product is called Aiyu jelly; pinyin:àiyù bīng;pinyin: àiyù dòng; Min Nan: Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ò-giô. The variety used for this process is, Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang. I may experiment this year and see if I can make this when the figs ripen, it would also be interesting to find out if other species had this same property.

The following photographs show what started out as a small hanging pot of F. pumila that once planted out has covered most of two trees, a wood privacy fence and other areas of my current backyard. This vine is mostly protected from the infrequent frosts by large sheltering trees. From time to time it is removed from the house walls and pine tree.

The fruit of a fig can be likened to a mulberry or jacfruit turned inside out, that is the flowers are inside the fruit and can only be reached through a small specialized opening that is not always open. This type of fruit is called a 'syconium' and the 'door' is called an 'ostium' Once opened you can see many tiny flowers within the cavity of the syconium. Estimates are that there are 1,000 male and 6,000 female flowers in a single fruit. The small red spots are the female flowers and the white ones at the tip of the fruit near the ostium are the male flowers. Figs are pollinated by specialized wasps, generally one species of wasp per species of fig.

Ficus pumila covering Sabal palmetto to 15 ft.	Juvenile F. pumila leaves on wall. Close look at juvenile leaves. The new leaf is protected by a stipile and you can see 2 older stipules just above the second leaf. The petiole is short.
Adult F. pumila leaves.	Vascular design on back of adult leaves.
A closer look at the vascular design.	Unripe, 2/4 full sized fruit F. pumila.
In this end on view you can see the closed ostium.	A close up look at the ostium.
In this opened fig you can see the ostium, male flowers and the red female flowers.	Another close-up of the ostium.
Here you can see the unopened male flowers very close up.	An even closer look at the male flowers.
Female flowers, also unopened close up. The white liquid is latex bleeding from the fruit.

Some Ficus books you might enjoy:

Ficus are excellent plants for shaping and Bonasi:

Ficus : The Exotic Bonsai

Ira J. Condit wrote what I think is an excellent book on uncommon Ficus:

Ficus: the exotic species,

Great recipes for you to enjoy:

Fig Heaven: 70 Recipes for the World's Most Luscious Fruit

Concise and to the point fig information:

The Concise Book of Figs

A good technical introduction to the Moraceae:

Moreae, Artocarpeae, and Dorstenia (Moraceae): With Introductions to the Family and Ficus and With Additions and Corrections to Flora Neotropica Monograph 7(Flora Neotropica Mongraph No. 83)

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