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Laurel fig

Ficus microcarpa-- Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants

Ficus microcarpa

Non-Native to Florida

laurel fig

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Download a page (PDF 174 KB) from Identification and Biology of Nonnative Plants in Florida’s Natural Areas – Second Edition, by K.A. Langeland, H.M. Cherry, et al. University of Florida-IFAS Pub SP 257. 2008.

For control information, see Integrated Management of Nonnative Plants in Natural Areas of Florida (SP 242)
by K. A. Langeland, J. A. Ferrell, B. Sellers, G. E. MacDonald, and R. K. Stocker

Date of introduction to Florida: pre-1912 (ornamental)

(from Strangers in Paradise, Impact and Management of Nonindigenous Species in Florida, Chapter 2: Florida’s Invasion by Nonindigenous Plants: History, Screening, and Regulation, by D.R. Gordon and K.P. Thomas, pp. 21-37. Island Press, Washington, DC, 1997.)

 

    View more information and pictures about laurel fig, as contained in the Langeland/Burks book, Identification & Biology of Non-Native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas.

    Appearance: Evergreen tree to 15 m (50 ft) or more in height, with a rounded dense crown; smooth gray bark, milky sap, and long, thin, dangling aerial roots.

    Leaves: Alternate, simple, leathery, deep glossy green; oval-elliptic to diamond-shaped, to 13 cm (5 in) long, with short pointed, ridged tips.

    Flowers: Tiny, unisexual, numerous, hidden within the “fig”; a fleshy, specialized receptacle that develops into a multiple fruit (syconium).

    Fruit: Green turning to yellow or dark red when ripe; sessile, in pairs at leaf axils; small, to 1 cm (0.5 in) in diameter.

    Ecological threat: Began spreading by seed in the 1970s, following apparently accidental introduction of species-specific pollinating wasps. Found in various tropical hammocks. FLEPPC Category I

    Distribution: C, SW, SE

    Field Notations FICUMICR/FIMI2

    Text from Invasive and Non-Native Plants You Should Know, Recognition Cards, by A. Richard and V. Ramey, 2007. UF/IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, Publ. No. SP 431.

    Download the Recognition Card (PDF 990 KB).

     

    See the UF/IFAS Assessment, which lists plants according to their invasive status in Florida.

    laurel fig View the herbarium specimen image of the University of Florida Herbarium Digital Imaging Projects.