Ficus cyathistipula
A small African fig, usually a shrub or tree about 5 m tall and sometimes a hemi-epiphytic liana, with cup-shaped stipules and reddish figs that float, so water disperses the seeds. It grows along forested streams, rivers and swamp edges from Ivory Coast to western Kenya and south to Zambia and Malawi. Grow it warm, bright-shaded and consistently moist, since it comes from wet, humid waterside forest.
Where it grows wild
Wikipedia places it in tropical moist forest, especially along forested streams, rivers and swamps, where it often overhangs pools. A Ugandan specimen records a 7 m tree at a swamp-forest edge with Phoenix reclinata and Harungana on sandy loam. Gabonese records come from riverbanks and waterfalls, and a Liberian record comes from the banks of the Mano River. It grows as a shrub, small tree or hemi-epiphyte, sometimes with adventitious supporting roots.
Measured records run 2–4,700 m, with a median of 700 m (155 records). Wikipedia gives sea level to about 1,800 m, and the 4,700 m maximum is almost certainly an error.
🔒 Growing it like that
The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:
Grow Ficus cyathistipula? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.
More Ficus
Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app.