Species
+

Ficus carica L.

Common Fig, Edible Fig, Fig, Fig Tree

Climate known 46 photographs Tropical foliage plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

The fig is the edible fruit of Ficus carica, a species of tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Moraceae, native to the Mediterranean region, and to western and southern Asia. It has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world. Ficus carica is the type species of the genus Ficus, which comprises over 800 tropical and subtropical plant species.

Text from Wikipedia, “Fig”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Ficus

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, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. Many Ficus species are grown for their fruits, though only two species, the common fig and sycamore fig, are cultivated to any extent, with common fig being the type species and by far the most important. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Ficus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Moraceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Greece, Kriti, Turkmenistan +12
Wild records
137 in range· 15 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Aug, mean day; nights 22 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
589mm/yr
7 wet months · peak Jan 132 mm (CHELSA)
Light
17–50DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Ficus, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a winter growing season, November to February in the northern hemisphere (November to February at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 589 mm a year, wettest January at 132 mm, driest July at 1 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 50 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 1.9 °C habitat night).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Ficus carica var. caprificus Risso; Ficus vulgaris.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Ficus, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, November to February in the northern hemisphere (November to February at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (439 mm of 589 mm) falls in November to February, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 12.9 °C against a yearly mean of 18.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: May to August.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 589 mm a year, wettest January at 132 mm, driest July at 1 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

589 mm a year at the habitat, 439 mm of it November to February. Wettest month January at 132 mm, driest July at 1 mm; 3 months under 5 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 438 mm to 1095 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 50 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 50 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 11, the highest 90th-percentile month 51).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 1.9 °C habitat night).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 1.9 °C, the absolute minimum -3.1 °C, 34 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 40.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 7.6 °C in February (across the envelope cells 2.8 °C to 10.5 °C), warmest day 30.6 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 12 °C. The habitat figure, the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER), is 1.9 °C; the archetype table's conventional minimum for a tropical foliage plant (grouped by the genus Ficus, which is reliably one kind of plant) is 12 °C, which is higher, and the floor rule takes the higher.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 59% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 14 °C in Jan to 31 °C in Aug; mean night from 8 °C in Feb to 22 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Jan to Mar, is the three months around the coldest night. 589 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 95 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -3.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 40.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°50°frost40.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)-3.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 17–50RH 56–59 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 95 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C14 / 9–1614 / 9–1716 / 12–2020 / 15–2424 / 19–2828 / 23–3130 / 25–3331 / 26–3328 / 23–3125 / 19–2819 / 14–2315 / 10–18
Night °C8 / 3–118 / 3–1110 / 5–1212 / 8–1416 / 13–1819 / 16–2122 / 19–2422 / 19–2520 / 17–2318 / 13–2013 / 8–1610 / 4–12
Rain mm132 / 59–202110 / 42–15367 / 46–10627 / 13–6611 / 3–492 / 1–351 / 1–251 / 1–336 / 1–4835 / 19–8781 / 59–173116 / 69–218
DLI19 / 13–2024 / 18–2632 / 26–3441 / 35–4247 / 40–4850 / 45–5148 / 44–5045 / 39–4638 / 30–3928 / 20–3021 / 14–2317 / 11–19
RH %59 / 57–6158 / 56–6058 / 55–6056 / 52–6056 / 50–6257 / 50–6257 / 49–6358 / 50–6358 / 53–6158 / 54–6157 / 54–6258 / 56–62

Each figure is the median across the 95 grid cells holding the 133 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1167:4298 (31.625, 34.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -3.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 1.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 40.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 95 distinct grid cells holding the 133 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1167:4298 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 31.50_35.000, lapse-corrected -7 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 336 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeGreece, Kriti, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Afghanistan, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Turkey, Pakistan, West Himalaya· introduced: Denmark, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland, Baleares, Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Italy, Sicilia, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Krym, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Western Sahara, Azores, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Madeira, Niger, Gulf of Guinea Is., Chad, Eritrea, Somalia, Mauritius, Réunion, Uzbekistan, East Aegean Is., Sinai, Gulf States, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, China South-Central, China North-Central, China Southeast, Xinjiang, Korea, Bangladesh, India, Andaman Is., Norfolk Is., New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Gilbert Is., Tokelau-Manihiki, Easter Is., Line Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Wake I., Massachusetts, New York, California, New Mexico, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mexico Central, Mexico Southwest, El Salvador, Bermuda, Ecuador, Peru, Juan Fernández Is., Tristan da Cunha
Kew's description“tree” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker31.75, 34.85 · in the densest population, 70 records (51% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 137 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 15 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1078 km away. 712 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 4 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the centre of the tenth-degree cell nearest the middle (no openly licensed record lies in the population, so no record's coordinates are published) of the densest 1° population of the 137 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Ficus caricaFicus caricaFicus caricaFicus caricaFicus caricaFicus caricaFicus caricaFicus carica

Photographs: (c) Claude Kolwelter, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); no rights reserved · CC0 (4).

Photographs: iNaturalist and GBIF media did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Ficus carica, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Removal of methylene blue by adsorption onto activated carbon developed from Ficus carica bast
Deepak Pathania, Shikha Sharma, Pardeep Singh (2013) · Arabian Journal of Chemistry
How to be a Fig
Daniel H. Janzen (1979) · Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics
Antioxidant Activities and Anthocyanin Content of Fresh Fruits of Common Fig (Ficus carica L.)
Anat Solomon, Sara Golubowicz, Zeev Yablowicz, Shlomo Grossman (2006) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
New Fusarium species and combinations within the Gibberella fujikuroi species complex
Helgard I. Nirenberg, Kerry O’Donnell (1998) · Mycologia
Phenolic acids and flavonoids of fig fruit (Ficus carica L.) in the northern Mediterranean region
Robert Veberič, M. Colarič, Franci Štampar (2007) · Food Chemistry
Non-crop plants used as hosts by Drosophila suzukii in Europe
Marc Kenis, Lorenzo Tonina, René Eschen, Bart van der Sluis (2016) · Journal of Pest Science
Ficus carica L.: Metabolic and biological screening
Andreia P. Oliveira, Patrı́cia Valentão, José Alberto Pereira, Branca M. Silva (2009) · Food and Chemical Toxicology
Green synthesis of dysprosium stannate nanoparticles using Ficus carica extract as photocatalyst for the degradation of organic pollutants under visible irradiation
Sahar Zinatloo‐Ajabshir, Maryam Sadat Morassaei, Omid Amiri, Masoud Salavati‐Niasari (2019) · Ceramics International
Traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology ofFicus carica: A review
Shamkant B. Badgujar, Vainav Patel, A. H. Bandivdekar, Raghunath T. Mahajan (2014) · Pharmaceutical Biology
Ficus caricaL. (Moraceae): Phytochemistry, Traditional Uses and Biological Activities
Shukranul Mawa, Khairana Husain, Ibrahim Jantan (2013) · Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
New Fusarium Species and Combinations within the Gibberella fujikuroi Species Complex
Helgard I. Nirenberg, Kerry O’Donnell (1998) · Mycologia

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Ficus 18 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media did not answercarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: api.gbif.org not asked: offline re-derivation
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 11 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.