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Ficus platypoda; photograph Ian McMaster, CC BY, via GBIF CC BYIan McMaster, CC BY, via GBIF

Ficus platypoda (Miq.) A.Cunn. ex Miq.

Rock fig; Small-leaf Moreton Bay fig; Desert Fig; Fig

Moraceae · New South Wales, Northern Territory +2 · listed by its genus as a tropical foliage plant

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Ficus platypoda, photograph Ian McMaster, CC BY, via GBIFFicus platypoda, photograph Clare Pearce, CC BY, via GBIFFicus platypoda, photograph Melburnian, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsFicus platypoda, photograph Mark Marathon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsFicus platypoda, photograph Mark Marathon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsFicus platypoda, photograph Mark Marathon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons 13 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
10.4°C
Record low 5.8 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
36°C
Oct and Nov at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
984mm
7 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
32–45DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes June to September (December to March at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Ficus platypoda, commonly known as the desert fig or rock fig, is a fig that is endemic to central and northern Australia. It is a lithophytic plant that grows on rocky outcrops, reaching 10 m in height.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Ficus platypoda", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Ficus

Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. Many Ficus species are grown for their fruits, though only two species, the common fig and sycamore fig, are cultivated to any extent, with common fig being the type species and by far the most important. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Ficus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant, listed under the genus Ficus in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “tree”, “seasonally dry tropical”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (828 mm of 978 mm) falls in December to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 28.5 °C against a yearly mean of 26.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: June to September.

Rain

978 mm in the median year at the habitat, 828 mm of it December to March. Wettest month January at 256 mm, driest month August at 0 mm; 3 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 319 mm to 1,432 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 984 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 978 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 32 to 45 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 26, the highest 90th-percentile month 49).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 10.4 °C, the absolute minimum 5.8 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 42.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 16.0 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 12.3 °C to 20.1 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 36.1 °C in October (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 10.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 44 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -85 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Ficus in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “tree”, “seasonally dry tropical”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Ficus platypoda through the yearWarmest months October and November, mean daily high 36 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 16.0 °C; 978 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.0°10°20°30°40°50°42.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER5.8° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 32–45RH 44–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 290 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C33 / 30–3632 / 29–3533 / 30–3533 / 29–3531 / 26–3329 / 23–3029 / 23–3031 / 23–3334 / 27–3636 / 29–3836 / 30–3835 / 30–37
Night °C25 / 23–2725 / 23–2724 / 22–2722 / 20–2620 / 17–2417 / 13–2116 / 12–2018 / 14–2121 / 16–2324 / 20–2525 / 22–2725 / 23–27
Rain mm256 / 46–374239 / 85–349156 / 47–25533 / 19–7610 / 5–255 / 1–182 / 1–130 / 0–54 / 1–1026 / 5–4370 / 10–128177 / 41–255
DLI39 / 36–4937 / 34–4538 / 36–4137 / 36–3835 / 30–3532 / 26–3334 / 28–3538 / 35–3942 / 41–4345 / 44–4845 / 43–4941 / 39–49
RH %62 / 53–6663 / 55–6758 / 50–6451 / 44–5948 / 43–5446 / 42–5345 / 41–5344 / 39–5546 / 39–5949 / 40–6054 / 44–6159 / 50–63
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 290 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (387 records in those cells; 9 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2088:6244 (-14.425, 132.225). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 5.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 10.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 42.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 290 distinct grid cells holding 387 of the 397 in-range records (9 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2088:6244 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -14.50_132.500, lapse-corrected -85 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 114 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeNew South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-15.667, 129.167 · in the densest population, 311 records (50% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 619 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 387 of them in the land cells it reads, of 397 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 603 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 22 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 222 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 619 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Ficus platypoda, photograph 1did not loadFicus platypoda, photograph 2did not loadFicus platypoda, photograph 3did not loadFicus platypoda, photograph 4did not loadFicus platypoda, photograph 5did not loadFicus platypoda, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Ian McMaster, CC BY, via GBIF; Clare Pearce, CC BY, via GBIF; Melburnian, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Mark Marathon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (3).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Brachychiton diversifolius Brachychiton diversifolius Northern kurrajong Photo: CC BY, Roland MuenchDrosera fragrans Drosera fragrans Droseraceae Photo: CC BY, Roland MuenchByblis filifolia Byblis filifolia Byblidaceae Photo: CC BY, Genevieve EarlyEriocaulon cinereum Eriocaulon cinereum Ashy pipewort Photo: CC BY, Alan BellBrachychiton paradoxus Brachychiton paradoxus Red-flower kurrajong Photo: CC BY, yatesyEucalyptus pantoleuca Eucalyptus pantoleuca Round-leaved Gum Photo: CC BY, Ian McMaster

Other Ficus 157 in the reference

Ficus abutilifolia Ficus abutilifolia Large-leaved Rock Fig Photo: CC0, author not statedFicus altissima Ficus altissima False banyan Photo: CC BY, Jaro GuzinskiFicus americana Ficus americana Jamaican cherry fig Photo: CC BY, Guillaume DelaitreFicus ampelos Ficus ampelos Moraceae Photo: CC BY, 黃美滿Ficus amplissima Ficus amplissima Indian Bat Fig Photo: CC BY, rajesh rockyFicus annulata Ficus annulata Moraceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Ong Jyh SengFicus arnottiana Ficus arnottiana Indian Rock Fig Photo: CC BY, rajesh rockyFicus aspera Ficus aspera Mosaic fig Photo: CC BY-SA, Stan ShebsFicus aurea Ficus aurea Florida strangler Photo: CC BY, Tom FieldFicus auriculata Ficus auriculata Roxburgh fig Photo: CC BY, Sagnik Dutta RoyFicus barteri Ficus barteri Moraceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Ji-ElleFicus benghalensis Ficus benghalensis Indian banyan Photo: CC BY, Sayee Girdhari all 158 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Ficus lanata; Ficus platypoda var. typica; Urostigma platypodium; Urostigma platypodum. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Moraceae
Described by
(Miq.) A.Cunn. ex Miq.
Native to
New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland +1
Wild records
619 in range · 603 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 9 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (9 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -14.50_132.500, lapse-corrected -85 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 34 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…