''Ficus pumila'', commonly known as the creeping fig or climbing fig, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the mulberry family, native to

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...

(China, Japan, Vietnam) and naturalized in parts of the southeastern and south-central United States. It is also found in cultivation as a

houseplant A houseplant, sometimes known as a pot plant, potted plant, or an indoor plant, is an ornamental plant that is grown indoors. As such, they are found in places like residences and offices, mainly for decorative purposes. Common houseplants are us ...

. The Latin specific epithet ''pumila'' means "dwarf", and refers to the very small leaves of the plant.

Description

''Ficus pumila'' is a woody

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

liana, growing to . It can grow up to tall if it isn't regularly pruned. 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 root Aerial roots are roots above the ground. They are almost always adventitious. They are found in diverse plant species, including epiphytes such as orchids (''Orchidaceae''), tropical coastal swamp trees such as mangroves, banyan figs (''Fic ...

s secrete a translucent

latex Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms ...

that hardens on drying, allowing the sticks to adhere to their support.

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 and does not tolerate frost. Therefore in

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...

regions it is often seen as a

. 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 In botany, a tendril is a specialized stem, leaf or petiole with a threadlike shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as ''Cuscuta''. There are many plants that have tendr ...

can cause structural damage to certain buildings with fragile mortar or structures made of fragile materials. It has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

's Award of Garden Merit. The plant requires the fig wasp '' Blastophaga pumilae'' for pollination, and is fed upon by

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...

e of the butterfly '' Marpesia petreus''.

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 Variegation is the appearance of differently coloured zones in the leaves and sometimes the stems and fruit of plants. Species with variegated individuals are sometimes found in the understory of tropical rainforests, and this habitat is the s ...

foliage

Cuisine

The fruit of ''Ficus pumila'' var. ''awkeotsang'' is used in cuisine. In

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, 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 Aiyu jelly (; or ; or simply ), known in Amoy Hokkien as ''ogio'' (), and as ice jelly in Singapore (), is a jelly made from the gel from the seeds of the awkeotsang creeping fig found in Taiwan and East Asian countries of the same climates and ...

'' (or ''aiyuzi'' 愛玉子) and in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

as ''ice jelly'' (文頭雪).

Toxicity

Like other plant species in the family

Moraceae The Moraceae — often called the mulberry family or fig family — are a family of flowering plants comprising about 38 genera and over 1100 species. Most are widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, less so in temperate climates; however ...

, contact with the milky sap of ''Ficus pumila'' can cause

phytophotodermatitis Phytophotodermatitis, also known as berloque dermatitis or margarita photodermatitis, is a cutaneous phototoxic inflammatory reaction resulting from contact with a light-sensitizing botanical agent followed by exposure to ultraviolet light (from ...

, a potentially serious skin inflammation. Although the plant is not poisonous per se, ''F. pumila'' is listed in the FDA Database of Poisonous Plants.

Gallery

File:Warren Wilson Beach House (The Venice Beach House), Venice, California.JPG, Growing on Warren Wilson Beach House in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

, CA File:Ficus pumila = ficus repens.JPG, Habit on a wall File:Ficus pumila.jpg, Vigorous growth on a wall File:Ficus pumila, lenteloof, b, Pretoria.jpg, Close-up of the leaves and brown

stipule In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). Stipules are considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many speci ...

s File:Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften - Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe (1858) (20665373299), Ficus pumila.jpg, Nature printed leaves, showing shape and venation File:Ficus pumila fruits (RaeA).jpg, Syconia (figs) File:F pumila.jpg, Inverted and dried fig of ''F. p.'' var. ''awkeotsang'', ready for use File:Feuilles de Ficus pumila.jpg, Leaves from oldest to youngest File:Ficus pumila variegata 0zz.jpg, Variegated leaves File:Ficus Pumila Half Syconia.jpg, Half cut of Ficus Pumila Syconia

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2360517 pumila Flora of Eastern Asia Flora of China Flora of Vietnam Edible fruits Garden plants of Asia Vines House plants Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus