Ficus microcarpa
A banyan fig from tropical and subtropical Asia to Queensland and the western Pacific, and the most common fig sold as bonsai (often as 'ginseng ficus'). In the wild it starts life on another tree, on rock or in soil, then drops aerial roots that thicken into trunks. It wants bright light, warmth and steady moisture, and tolerates a cool winter better than most tropical figs.
Where it grows wild
It grows in lowland rainforest, along rivers and coasts, in swamps and at mangrove edges. Seedlings often germinate in the crown of a host tree or in cracks in rock and walls, then send roots to the ground. Mature trees stand in the open or form part of the canopy, in full sun.
Mostly lowland. The 84 records with an elevation span sea level to about 800 m, median 49 m.
🔒 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 3.0 licence, unmodified.