Ficus pumila

Ficus pumila, commonly known as the creeping fig or climbing fig, is a species of flowering plant in the mulberry family, native to East Asia (China, Japan, Vietnam)^[2] and naturalized in parts of the southeastern and south-central United States.^[3][4] It is also found in cultivation as a houseplant. The Latin specific epithet pumila means "dwarf",^[5] and refers to the very small leaves of the plant.

Creeping fig
F. pumila foliage
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Moraceae
Tribe:	Ficeae
Genus:	Ficus
Subgenus:	F. subg. Synoecia
Species:	F. pumila
Binomial name
Ficus pumila L. 1753 not Thunb. 1786
Synonyms[1]
List Ficus hanceana Maxim. Ficus longipedicellata H.Perrier Ficus pumila var. lutchuensis Koidz. Ficus repens var. lutchuensis Koidz. Ficus scandens Lam. Ficus stipulata Thunb. 1786 Ficus stipulata Lem. 1843 Ficus vestita Desf. Plagiostigma pumila Zucc. Plagiostigma stipulata Zucc. Tenorea heterophylla Gasp. Urostigma scandens (Lam.) Liebm. Varinga repens Raf.

Description

Ficus pumila is a woody evergreen liana, growing to 2.5–4 m (8 ft 2 in – 13 ft 1 in). It can grow up to 9–12 m (30–39 ft) tall if it isn't regularly pruned.^[6] The juvenile foliage is much smaller and thinner than mature leaves produced as the plant ages. The leaves are oval, cordate, asymmetrical, with opposite veins. It is creeping or can behave like a liana and also climb trees, rocks, etc. up to 4 m in height or more. The aerial roots secrete a translucent latex that hardens on drying, allowing the sticks to adhere to their support.^{[citation needed]}

Cultivation

As the common name, "creeping fig" indicates, the plant has a creeping/vining habit and is often used in gardens and landscapes where it covers the ground and climbs up trees and walls. It is hardy down to 1 °C (34 °F)^[7] and does not tolerate frost. Therefore in temperate regions it is often seen as a houseplant. It is fast-growing and requires little in the way of care. It can be invasive when environmental conditions are favorable. Its secondary roots or tendrils can cause structural damage to certain buildings with fragile mortar or structures made of fragile materials.

It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.^[8]

The plant requires the fig wasp Blastophaga pumilae for pollination, and is fed upon by larvae of the butterfly Marpesia petreus.^{[citation needed]}

Varieties and cultivars

• Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang — awkeotsang creeping fig
• Ficus pumila var. quercifolia — oak leaf creeping fig
• Ficus pumila 'Curly' — curly creeping fig; crinkled leaf form
• Ficus pumila 'Variegata' and Ficus pumila 'Snowflake' — variegated creeping fig; variegated foliage

Cuisine

The fruit of Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang is used in cuisine. In Taiwan, its fruit is turned inside out and dried. The seeds are scraped off and a gel is extracted from their surface with water and allowed to set and form a jelly known in Taiwan as aiyu jelly (or aiyuzi 愛玉子) and in Singapore as ice jelly (文頭雪).

Toxicity

Like other plant species in the family Moraceae, contact with the milky sap of Ficus pumila can cause phytophotodermatitis,^[9] a potentially serious skin inflammation. Although the plant is not poisonous per se, F. pumila is listed in the FDA Database of Poisonous Plants.^[10]

Gallery

• 
  Growing on Warren Wilson Beach House in Venice, CA
• 
  Habit on a wall
• 
  Vigorous growth on a wall
• 
  Close-up of the leaves and brown stipules
• 
  Nature printed leaves, showing shape and venation
• 
  Syconia (figs)
• 
  Inverted and dried fig of F. p. var. awkeotsang, ready for use
• 
  Leaves from oldest to youngest
• 
  Variegated leaves
• 
  Half cut of Ficus Pumila Syconia