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Wild Fig

Ficus insipida

Wild Fig
Photo: Erik Fox from Richmond, VA, United States of America, CC BY 2.0
Family
Moraceae (Fig & mulberry family)
Grows as
Tree
Safety
Toxic to cats and dogs (ASPCA).
Native range
Mexico to S. Trop. America
Climate
wet tropical

About

Ficus insipida is a common tropical tree in the fig genus of the family Moraceae growing in forest habitats along rivers. It ranges from Mexico to northern South America.

Where it grows

The nominate subspecies occurs from Mexico south throughout Central America to Colombia and Venezuela and thence to Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Amazonian Brazil, and north from Venezuela to Trinidad and Tobago and the Lesser Antilles, whereas subspecies scabra occurs from the Guianan Shield of northeast Venezuela eastwards through the Guianas to northwestern Brazil in the states of Amapá and Pará.

Uses

The latex is sold in South America as an anthelmintic, marketed as 'doctor oje' (ojé in Brazil). An analysis of overdoses in one area of Peru found only 3 cases that were apparently fatal and 39 cases requiring hospitalization over a 12 year period, which, based on an analysis of probable sales in the region, amounted to very low 0.01–0.015% fatality and 0.13–0.2% hospitalization rates. The authors concluded the product was safe when dosed properly. No serious adverse effects were observed in any of several clinical trials on the product conducted in Peru, except for possibly one miscarriage in one 18-year-old woman (who did not disclose her pregnancy to those running the clinical trial) receiving a very low dose of ojé.

Other Ficus plants

Large-leaved rock fig · Figwood · Ficus adhatodifolia · Ficus albert-smithii · Abbey tree · Council tree · Ficus amazonica · Ficus americana subsp. greiffiana · Jamaican cherry fig · Ficus ampelos · Indian Bat Fig · Ficus andamanica

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ficus insipida by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.

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