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Ficus subulata; photograph (c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2023-04-26

Ficus subulata Blume

Moraceae · China South-Central, Hainan +22 · listed by its genus as a tropical foliage plant

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Sow seed
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
20.1°C
Record low 17.7 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
27°C
Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Sep, Oct, Nov and Dec at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
3,116mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
27–34DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

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 “scrambling tree”, “wet tropical”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (2,229 mm of 3,036 mm) takes 8 months, October to May. Mean temperature moves 1.0 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

3,036 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,229 mm of it October to May. Wettest month March at 322 mm, driest month July at 185 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 2,117 mm to 4,150 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 3,116 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 3,036 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: 27 to 34 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 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 37).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 20.1 °C, the absolute minimum 17.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.2 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 19.9 °C in July and August (across the grid cells of the range 12.4 °C to 23.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 26.9 °C in January, February, March, November and December (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 20.1 °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: 68 to 70% 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 +212 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 “scrambling tree”, “wet 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 subulata through the yearWarmest months January, February, March, April, May, September, October, November and December, mean daily high 27 °C; coldest months July and August, mean nightly low 19.9 °C; 3,036 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.10°15°20°25°30°35°30.2° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER17.7° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 27–34RH 68–70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 132 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 °C27 / 19–3027 / 19–3027 / 20–2927 / 20–2927 / 20–2926 / 19–2926 / 19–2926 / 19–2927 / 20–2927 / 20–3027 / 20–3027 / 19–30
Night °C21 / 13–2421 / 13–2421 / 13–2421 / 13–2521 / 13–2520 / 13–2420 / 12–2420 / 12–2320 / 12–2420 / 13–2421 / 13–2521 / 13–24
Rain mm297 / 190–439293 / 187–434322 / 208–482295 / 189–414241 / 161–351208 / 120–336185 / 111–363189 / 109–323225 / 136–339245 / 144–338240 / 151–318296 / 199–416
DLI31 / 26–3531 / 25–3531 / 26–3530 / 25–3428 / 25–3127 / 23–3027 / 22–3029 / 25–3332 / 29–3534 / 30–3733 / 28–3731 / 26–35
RH %69 / 65–7369 / 65–7369 / 66–7370 / 66–7370 / 66–7370 / 66–7470 / 65–7469 / 65–7368 / 64–7268 / 64–7268 / 65–7269 / 65–73

Records on both sides of the equator: the 4 cells at least 10° south of it have seasons six months apart and are left out, not combined into a year no place has. These figures are across the 132 cells that remain: the 4 at least 10° north and the 128 within 10° of the equator, which stay in either way.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 132 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (176 records in those cells; 8 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 1862:6422 (-3.125, 141.125). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 17.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 20.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.2 °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 132 distinct grid cells holding 176 of the 195 in-range records (8 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out) on the northern side of the equator (4 cells poleward of 10° north, 4 poleward of 10° south: the two sides' seasons are not combined, and cells within 10° of the equator stay in); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1862:6422 (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 -3.00_141.250, lapse-corrected +212 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 510 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.
NativeChina South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Tibet, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, Nepal, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Vanuatu · 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-6.667, 146.75 · in the densest population, 127 records (19% of those in range)
Kew's description“scrambling tree” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 664 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 176 of them in the land cells it reads, of 195 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 631 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 2 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 469 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 of the 664 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

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

Falcataria falcata Falcataria falcata Moluccan albizia Photo: CC0, author not statedPangium edule Pangium edule Football Fruit Photo: CC0, author not stated Phymatosorus membranifolius Polypodiaceae Brunfelsia grandiflora Brunfelsia grandiflora Largeflower brunfelsia Photo: CC BY, Eduardo Chacón MadrigalUrera laciniata Urera laciniata Urticaceae Photo: CC BY, Eric SchmidtCalliandra angustifolia Calliandra angustifolia Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Jared Shorma

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 acuminata; Ficus ancolana; Ficus boiei; Ficus caryophylla; Ficus confusa and 18 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Under another author Ficus salicifolia Miq. is an older name of this species, not Ficus salicifolia, a species of the reference. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Moraceae
Described by
Blume
Native to
China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast +21
Wild records
664 in range · 631 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; 4 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (3 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a zoo; 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 -3.00_141.250, lapse-corrected +212 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 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 nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
Wikimedia Commons commons nothing to reportasked 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 35 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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