Red-leaved fig is a semi-deciduous shrub or a tree with a rounded, spreading crown; it can grow up to 13 metres tall.
The bole is short, with large buttresses, and can be around 40cm in diameter.
The plant sometimes begins life as an epiphyte, growing in the branch of another tree; as it grows older it sends down aerial roots which, when they reach the ground quickly form roots and become much thicker and more vigorous. They supply nutrients to the fig, allowing it to grow faster than the host tree. The aerial roots gradually encircle the host tree, preventing its main trunk from expanding, whilst at the same time the foliage smothers the foliage of the host. Eventually the host dies, leaving the fig to carry on growing without competition.
The edible fruit is gathered from the wild for local consumption. The plant is sometimes grown as a bonsai or container plant, being valued especially for the red colour of its new leaves.

Known Hazards

None

Habitat

Wooded savannah, sometimes in rocky places. Deciduous woodland and riverine fringes, often on rocks in rocky outcrops, at elevations from sea level to 2,100 metres.

Cultivation Status

Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of drier areas in the tropics and subtropics. Trees more than 2 - 3 years old can often tolerate moderate frosts.
Found in the wild on rocky slopes, preferring fissures in rocks.
A fast-growing tree.
The plant has an aggressive root system that can damage foundations.
In the wild, the roots can spread across rock faces and penetrate almost imperceptible cracks, sometimes splitting the rock.
The plant can form fruits all year round.
Fig trees have a unique form of fertilization, each species relying on a single, highly specialized species of wasp that is itself totally dependent upon that fig species in order to breed. The trees produce three types of flowers: male, a long-styled female, and a short-styled female flower, often called the gall flower. All three types of flowers are contained within the structure we usually think of as the fruit.
The female fig wasp enters a fig and lays its eggs on the short-styled female flowers while pollinating the long-styled female flowers. Wingless male fig wasps emerge first, inseminate the emerging females and then bore exit tunnels out of the fig for the winged females. Females emerge, collect pollen from the male flowers and fly off in search of figs whose female flowers are receptive. In order to support a population of its pollinator, individuals of a Ficus spp. must flower asynchronously. A population must exceed a critical minimum size to ensure that at any time of the year at least some plants have overlap of emission and reception of fig wasps. Without this temporal overlap, the short-lived pollinator wasps will go locally extinct.

Edible Uses

Fruit - raw
The fruit is up to 20mm in diameter.
Leaves - cooked and eaten as a vegetable
Consumption only happens occasionally.

Medicinal

A maceration of the leaves is used as a treatment against malaria.
A latex obtained from the plant is disinfectant.

Agroforestry Uses

None Recorded

Other Uses

A latex obtained from the plant is used as a disinfectant.
It can be used as a substitute for iodine.

Propagation

Seed
Cuttings