Ficus pumila L.

Climbing Fig

Vine

Perennial

Vascular

Climbing Fig is an introduced woody vine in the Mulberry family (Moraceae). It is native to southeast Asia. Climbing Fig is cultivated as an ornamental on walls and stonework and can be found as an uncommon escape in south Alabama. It occurs on vacant lots, in urban forests, and along streams. It is a woody evergreen vine or sprawling shrub, climbing by adventitious roots or trailing and rooting along the ground. The young branches are pubescent and greenish in color. The bark on older branches is smooth or slightly furrowed, glabrous, and tan-brown in color. Leaves are alternate, petiolate, oblong to obovate in outline, with enitre margins. The leaves are leathery in texture, pubescent along the veins on the lower surface, and glabrous on the upper surface. The leaves are dimorphic with those on climbing stems appressed, distichous (2-ranked), and smaller than those on spreading branches. Climbing Fig produces male and female flowers on the same plant. The flowers are located within a hollow inflorescence (fig) with many minute flowers on the inner walls. The male flowers are located near the opening (pore) and female flowers are located towards the base. Flowers are sessile with 2-6 greenish sepals. The fruit is a leathery, green or purple, pear-shaped syconia with multiple seed. Climbing Fig is often cultivated as a houseplant, ground cover, or on walls and stonework. Variegated forms are available. Although not listed as an invasive species, it grows rapidly and easily spreads from sections of discarded stem.—A. Diamond.

For an account of this species in Alabama, See: Diamond, A.R. 2013. New and noteworthy woody vascular plant records from Alabama. Phytoneuron 201-47: 1-13.

Not Native