Species
+

Ficus pumila L.

ō-itabi, Climbing fig, Climbingfig, Creeping Fig

Climate known 47 photographs Tropical foliage plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Ficus pumila, commonly known as the creeping fig or climbing fig, is a species of flowering plant in the mulberry family, native to East Asia and naturalised in parts of the southeastern and south-central United States. It is also found in cultivation as a houseplant. The Latin specific epithet pumila means "dwarf", and refers to the very small leaves of the plant.

Text from Wikipedia, “Ficus pumila”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

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 ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Ficus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Moraceae
Described by
L.
Native to
China South-Central, China North-Central, China Southeast +8
Wild records
1086 in range· 292 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
Jul, mean day; nights 25 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2127mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 340 mm (CHELSA)
Light
17–36DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Ficus, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 2127 mm a year, wettest June at 340 mm, driest December at 49 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 36 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 3.2 °C habitat night).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Ficus hanceana Maxim.; Ficus longipedicellata H.Perrier; Ficus pumila var. lutchuensis Koidz.; Ficus repens Anon.; Ficus repens f. variegata W.Bull and 10 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Ficus, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1597 mm of 2127 mm) falls in April to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 25.3 °C against a yearly mean of 21.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 2127 mm a year, wettest June at 340 mm, driest December at 49 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2127 mm a year at the habitat, 1597 mm of it April to September. Wettest month June at 340 mm, driest December at 49 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1394 mm to 3776 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

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

Light Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 36 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 14, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

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.

Warmth and air Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 3.2 °C habitat night).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 3.2 °C, the absolute minimum -1.9 °C, 8 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 37.8 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 10.0 °C in January (across the envelope cells 0.9 °C to 14.7 °C), warmest day 29.7 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 12 °C. The habitat figure, the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER), is 3.2 °C; the archetype table's conventional minimum for a tropical foliage plant (grouped by the genus Ficus, which is reliably one kind of plant) is 12 °C, which is higher, and the floor rule takes the higher.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 16 °C in Jan to 30 °C in Jul; mean night from 10 °C in Jan to 25 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 2127 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 612 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -1.9 °C and the 99th-percentile day 37.8 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost37.8° 99th-percentile day (undated)-1.9° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 17–36RH 60–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 612 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C16 / 8–2017 / 10–2120 / 14–2323 / 18–2626 / 21–2828 / 24–3030 / 26–3229 / 26–3228 / 24–3025 / 21–2821 / 16–2518 / 11–21
Night °C10 / 1–1511 / 3–1613 / 6–1817 / 11–2120 / 16–2323 / 19–2525 / 20–2625 / 20–2623 / 18–2520 / 14–2315 / 8–2011 / 3–16
Rain mm66 / 24–155106 / 47–203152 / 64–227184 / 95–261267 / 150–381340 / 205–505270 / 146–483289 / 149–528247 / 98–50487 / 45–33570 / 31–23849 / 25–161
DLI17 / 14–2320 / 16–2625 / 19–3229 / 24–3431 / 27–3532 / 28–3436 / 32–3933 / 31–3629 / 26–3225 / 22–3020 / 17–2518 / 15–22
RH %61 / 57–6663 / 57–6764 / 59–6864 / 60–6965 / 61–6966 / 63–7166 / 62–7066 / 63–7065 / 62–6962 / 58–6761 / 57–6660 / 56–65

Each figure is the median across the 612 grid cells holding the 1061 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1352:5736 (22.375, 106.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -1.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 3.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 37.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 612 distinct grid cells holding the 1061 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1352:5736 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 22.50_106.875, lapse-corrected -150 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 148 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChina South-Central, China North-Central, China Southeast, Japan, Korea, Nansei-shoto, Ogasawara-shoto, Taiwan, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam· introduced: Azores, Canary Is., Benin, Cameroon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Mauritius, Réunion, Seychelles, Assam, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Andaman Is., Thailand, Jawa, New South Wales, Queensland, New Zealand North, Fiji, New Caledonia, Tonga, Society Is., Marianas, Alabama, Florida, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is., Venezuela, Ecuador, Galápagos
Kew's description“climbing shrub or liana” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker24.567, 120.936 · in the densest population, 518 records (48% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1086 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 292 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 26 km away. 614 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 25 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1086 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Ficus pumilaFicus pumilaFicus pumilaFicus pumilaFicus pumilaFicus pumilaFicus pumilaFicus pumila

Photographs: (c) Ong Jyh Seng, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Jo Roberts, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) 胡正恆(Jackson Hu), some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Rafael Silva, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Ficus pumila, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Antioxidant flavonoid glycosides from the leaves of Ficus pumila L.
Cheng Ning Abraham Leong, Masakuni Tako, Isao Hanashiro, Hajime Tamaki (2008) · Food Chemistry
Ficusplants: State of the art from a phytochemical, pharmacological, and toxicological perspective
Bahare Salehi, Abhay Prakash Mishra, Manisha Nigam, Natallia Karazhan (2020) · Phytotherapy Research
INITIATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF ROOTS IN JUVENILE AND MATURE LEAF BUD CUTTINGS OF FICUS PUMILA L.
Fred T. Davies, Jaime E. Lazarte, J. N. Joiner (1982) · American Journal of Botany
Three New Sesquiterpenoid Glucosides of Ficus pumila Fruit.
Junichi Kitajima, Kaoru Kimizuka, Yasuko TANAK (2000) · Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
Characterization of an arabinogalactan from the fruit hulls of Ficus pumila Linn. and its immunomodulatory effect
Jianjun Wu, Yongbin Xu, Bo Zhu, Kaohua Liu (2020) · Journal of Functional Foods
A Taxonomic and Ethno-Medicinal Study of Species from Moraceae (Mulberry) Family in Bangladesh Flora
A.H.M. Mahbubur Rahman, Anamika Khanom (2013) · Research in Plant Sciences
Development of the adhesive pad on climbing fig (Ficus pumila) stems from clusters of adventitious roots
Edwin P. Groot, Eileen J. Sweeney, Thomas L. Rost (2003) · Plant and Soil
Immediate skin and mucosal symptoms from pot plants and vegetables in gardeners and greenhouse workers
Evy Paulsen, P. Stahl Skov, Klaus E. Andersen (1998) · Contact Dermatitis

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Ficus 18 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: api.gbif.org not asked: offline re-derivation
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 112 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.