Ficus exasperata
The sandpaper fig is a fast-growing tree of 20–30 m found across tropical Africa and in India, Sri Lanka and Yemen. It is named for its very rough leaves, which are used as sandpaper. It is a pioneer of forest edges and secondary forest that sometimes starts as an epiphyte. At home it is a bright-light, warm pot tree that is easily kept small by pruning.
Where it grows wild
A tree of evergreen and semi-deciduous forest, especially drier parts, forest margins, riverine and gallery forest, secondary forest, farm bush and village land. It persists after clearing and is left as shade in cocoa and coffee plantations. It sometimes starts as an epiphyte and strangles its host.
Most specimen elevations are from the lowlands (median about 350 m), with records up to about 2,100 m in sub-montane forest in East Africa.
🔒 Growing it like that
The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:
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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, unmodified.