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Ficus pumila
Also called Climbingfig, Climbing Fig, Creeping Rubberplant, Figvine
Creeping fig is a fast-growing evergreen climbing vine that spreads over the ground or up walls and trees, with tiny leaves on young growth. It is easy to grow outdoors in mild climates, and indoors it needs bright light and steady moisture.
Ficus pumila, commonly known as the creeping fig or climbing fig, is a species of flowering plant in the mulberry family, native to East Asia (southern China, southern Japan,southern Korea, Vietnam) and naturalised in parts of the southeastern and south-central United States. It is also found in cultivation as a houseplant. The Latin specific epithet pumila means "dwarf", and refers to the very small leaves of the plant.
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 1 °C (34 °F) and does not tolerate frost. Therefore, in temperate regions it is often seen as a houseplant. 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 can cause structural damage to certain buildings with fragile mortar or structures made of fragile materials.
It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Like other plant species in the family Moraceae, contact with the milky sap of Ficus pumila can cause phytophotodermatitis, a potentially serious skin inflammation. Although the plant is not poisonous per se, F. pumila is listed in the FDA Database of Poisonous Plants.
The fruit of Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang is used in cuisine. In Taiwan, 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 (or aiyuzi 愛玉子) and in Singapore as ice jelly (文頭雪).
Ficus annulata · Mosaic Fig · Ficus atricha · Florida strangler fig · Roxburgh fig · Indian banyan · Weeping fig · Longleaf Fig · Ficus brachypoda · Fig · Ficus caulocarpa · Ficus celebensis
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ficus pumila by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
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.
