Ficus sciaphila
A small fig tree, up to about 8 m tall, found only on New Britain and New Ireland in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. Its name means 'shade-loving', and one collector found it in a wet limestone valley around a sinkhole. It is rare in the wild, where it is listed as Endangered, and very rare in cultivation. Grow it as a warm, humid, shaded potted fig.
Where it grows wild
A small understorey tree of lowland and lower-montane rainforest. Herbarium labels mention a wet limestone valley around a sinkhole near Lakit, the Danfu River valley in the Hans Meyer Range on New Ireland, and Kerevat on New Britain. The epithet and the few labels suggest a sheltered, shaded, moist site. The sources consulted give no more detail than this.
Only two labels give an altitude, both about 750–760 m (2,500 ft). The Kerevat and Danfu River collections are probably from lower ground, so the likely range is from near sea level to about 800 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.