Virginia Tech Dendrology

Moreton Bay fig Moraceae Ficus macrophylla Desf.ex Pers. symbol: FIMA
Leaf: Alternate, simple, entire margins, evergreen, thick, oblong to elliptical, to 10 inches long, shiny dark green above, paler or rust-colored below; exuding mildy sap when broken.
Flower: Species is monoecious; small, produced inside of a small round, greenish receptacles that occur in leaf axils near branch tips.
Fruit: Round, to 1 inch in diameter, spotted, turning purple when ripe, produced nearly year round.
Twig: Stout, green turning gray to red-brown, buds long and slender, leaf scar shield-shaped; contains a white latex sap.
Bark: Thin, smooth and gray when young; becoming dark with age.
Form: In its native habitat this massive tree can begin as an epiphyte, eventually stangling the "host plant". Planted specimens are generally single-stemmed with a wide-spreading dense crown. Trees eventually develop large buttressed roots and may develop aerial roots reaching down from the crown.
Looks like: strangler fig

Additional Range Information: Ficus macrophylla is planted in the USDA hardiness zones shown above and is not known to widely escape cultivaton. Download the full-size PDF map.
External Links: USDA Plants Database
All material © 2021 Virginia Tech Dept. of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation; Photos and text by: John Seiler, Edward Jensen, Alex Niemiera, and John Peterson; Silvics reprinted from Ag Handbook 654; range map source information