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Species library › Ficus › Ficus opposita
Other Partly documented

Ficus opposita

Sweet sandpaper fig

A shrub or small tree with rough, sandpapery leaves 6–14 cm long and milky sap. It bears edible figs 15–20 mm across that ripen from green to yellow, reddish-brown and then glossy black. It grows in open forest, monsoon forest and beach forest from Cape York to south-eastern Queensland, and also in New Guinea and Java. It is a tough, sun-loving fig for a bright position, with a drier winter.

Ficus opposita
Photo: Mark Marathon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Dry airBand in Plantistry
Light Bright, filtered lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
Expects a seasonal restGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

Rainforest Key (RFK) records it in open forest, monsoon forest and beach forest. It fruits even as a 1–3 m shrub and rarely exceeds a 30 cm trunk diameter. Its larvae host the common moonbeam butterfly.

RFK gives sea level to 750 m. The eight records with an elevation span 4–426 m, median 116 m.

QueenslandNew GuineaJawa

🔒 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

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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.