Ficus microcarpa

Non-Native to Florida

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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.

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