Gen info
- Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae, collectively known as fig trees or figs, native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. (7)
- With over 800 species, it is the largest genus in Moraceae, and is one of the largest genera of lowering plants currently described.
- Molecular clock estimates that Ficus is a relatively ancient genus, at least 60 million years old, and possibly as old as 80 million years. (7)
- As of July 2025, Plants of the World Online lists 881 accepted ficus species.
- Leonardo Co's digital flora database lists 100 natives Ficus species in the Philippines, and four cultivated--not naturalized--species . (1)

Botany
• Tree up to 25 m tall, sometimes with short stilt-roots. internal hairs abundant. Leaves spirally arranged; stipules 3-7 cm long, white appressed-puberulous and/or brown setose-hirsute, often only on the midrib, caducous or subpersistent, the old stipules recurved/hanging down. (Flora Malesiana)

• A small to medium-sized tree up to 25 m tall, sometimes with short stilt roots, bark surface finely fissured, grey-brown; leaves arranged spirally, ovate to broadly ovate, 12-45 cm x 8-36 cm, base subcordate to subcuneate, apex with a short tip, margin serrate to denticulate, with 5-10 pairs of lateral veins, variably scabrid on both surfaces, stipules up to 7 cm long; figs on leafless twigs from the trunk and branches, paired, sessile, pyriform, 4-8 mm in diameter, puberulous but glabrescent, ripening red; flowers with 3-4 free tepals, male flowers in 1 row, sessile, with 1 stamen, female flowers sessile or shortly stipitate. (6)

Distribution
- Native to the Philippines. (1)
- In primary and secondary forests, up to 1700 m altitude.
- Also native to Bismarck Archipelago, Maluku, New Guinea, Sulawesi. (2)

Properties
- Toxicity concern: The latex is reported by some to be poisonous. However, in some regions, the root or leaf latex is used medicinally. (see below)
- Water that flows from large root that has been cut obliquely can be drunk after boiling.

Parts used
Leaves, bark, roots.

Uses
Edibility
- Leaves are edible; cooked and eaten as vegetable.
Folkloric
- No reported folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.
- While some reports warn of the latex being poisonous, in some regions the root or leaf latex is swallowed for rapid treatment of cough. (3)
- In Papua New Guinea, Gahaku-speaking people cook chopped leaves and fruit of Ficus pungens to treat "shivering hands and feet". In Marawaka, liquid extract of fresh leaves is used for treatment of thrush (oral candidiasis). In the Sepik, root sap is swallowed for treatment of cough. In Buka, Bougainville, the leaves of Ficus pungens are crushed together with leaves of a Mallotus species, mixed with water and drunk for relief of bad cough. For asthma, a solution from crushed and squeezed bark is taken orally for a week for treatment of asthma. Elsewhere in PNG, leaves heated over a fire is topically applied to alleviate body pains. For inguinal hernia, fresh leaves are bruised upwards against the testicles. The Telban is also reported to apply leaves for treatment of sores. (4)
Others
- Crafts: Bark used for making mats. (3)
- Wood: Wood in the genus is usually of low quality, light in weight, soft, and not very durable. Sometimes used for light construction, digging sticks, yam sticks, etc. (3)

Studies
• No studies found.

Availability
- Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Moraceae: Ficus pungens / Co's Digital Flora of the Philippines
(2)
Ficus pungens / KEW: Plants of the World Online
(3)
Ficus pungens / Ken Fern  - Tropical Plants Database / Useful Tropical Plants
(4)
An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants used in the eastern highlands of Papua New Guinea / Ronald Y Jorim, Seva Korapem Wauwa Legu, Prem P Rai et al / Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 2012; 8(47) / DOI: 10.1186/1746-4269-8-47
(5)
Additional reading: Preferences of fig wasps and fruit bats for figs of functionally dioecious Ficus pungens / Elizabeth R Dumont / Journal of /Tropical Ecology, 2004; 20(2): pp 233-238 /
DOI: 10.1017/S0266467403001147
(6)
Ficus pungens: Medicinal and Poisonous Plants / LS de Padua, N Bunyapraphatsara and RHMJ Lemmens / PROSEA: Plant Resources of South-East Asia
(7)
Ficus / Wikipedia

DOI: It is not uncommon for links on studies/sources to change. Copying and pasting the information on the search window or using the DOI (if available) will often redirect to the new link page. (Citing and Using a (DOI) Digital Object Identifier)