Sign in Start free
Species library › Ficus › Ficus montana
Other Well documented

Ficus montana

Oakleaf fig

The oakleaf fig is a small, slow-growing shrub or scrambling subshrub with rough, deeply lobed, oak-like leaves, native from Bangladesh and western Indochina through Peninsular Malaysia to Sumatra, Java, Borneo and the Lesser Sunda Islands. It grows in lowland forest and scrub and is sold as a houseplant, often confused with the creeping Ficus pumila 'Quercifolia'. It likes warmth, bright indirect light and evenly moist soil.

Ficus montana
Photo: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day Warm-growingTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry
Light Dappled lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest periodGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

A low shrub recorded mainly from lowland forest. The sources we could reach give few habitat details. Like related shrubby figs, it most likely grows in the understorey and at forest edges and in secondary growth, where light is patchy.

The few GBIF records carrying an elevation (15) span 50–1,220 m, with a median of about 200 m, which suggests mainly lowland sites despite the name 'montana'.

BangladeshMyanmarLaosThailandMalayaSumateraJawaBorneoLesser Sunda Is.

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

Grow Ficus montana? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.

Start free Sign in

More Ficus

Ficus elastica Ficus lyrata Ficus aurea Ficus macrophylla Ficus rubiginosa Ficus insipida Ficus maxima Ficus obliqua Ficus benjamina Ficus microcarpa Ficus religiosa Ficus sycomorus All 1214 →

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.