Ficus polita
A widespread African fig tree with glossy, often heart-shaped leaves that have a long drawn-out tip. It usually grows to about 15 m, and occasionally much more. It often starts life as an epiphyte and later drops aerial roots that become extra trunks. Indoors it is grown as a young plant in bright light, like other large tropical figs.
Where it grows wild
It grows in lowland rainforest, gallery forest along rivers, semi-deciduous and dry forest, coastal forest, bushland and wooded savanna, on many kinds of soil, including old lava flows. Seedlings often germinate in the crowns of other trees and grow as epiphytes before their roots reach the ground.
Mostly lowland. GBIF records span 0–1400 m (median 300 m). Published limits vary from about 1200 m to 2150 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.