Species
+

Ficus thonningii Blume

Chinese banyan, Common Wild Fig, Fig, Strangler Fig

Climate known 20 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 thonningii is a species of Ficus. It is a tree native to tropical and southern Africa and the Cape Verde Islands. It is commonly known as Mũgumo to the Agikuyu or the Strangler Fig in common English. Recent phylogenetic analysis suggests it may be a species complex.

Text from Wikipedia, “Ficus thonningii”, 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
Blume
Native to
Cape Verde, Benin, Burkina +41
Wild records
1465 in range· 876 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Jan, mean day; nights 18 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
771mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Dec 85 mm (CHELSA)
Light
26–39DLI
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, March to September in the northern hemisphere (September to March at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 771 mm a year, wettest December at 85 mm, driest June at 34 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 39 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 7.7 °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 acrocarpa (Miq.) Steud.; Ficus acrocarpa (Miq.) Steud. ex Miq.; Ficus acrocarpa var. ellipticifolia Miq.; Ficus acrocarpa var. saligna (Hochst.) Miq.; Ficus annobonensis Mildbr. & Hutch. and 45 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, March to September in the northern hemisphere (September to March at the habitat, southern).

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 (550 mm of 771 mm) falls in September to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 22.1 °C against a yearly mean of 20.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: March to September.

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 771 mm a year, wettest December at 85 mm, driest June at 34 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

771 mm a year at the habitat, 550 mm of it September to March. Wettest month December at 85 mm, driest June at 34 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 545 mm to 1748 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern 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: 26 to 39 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 39 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 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

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 7.7 °C habitat night).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 7.7 °C, the absolute minimum 5.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.2 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 12.2 °C in July (across the envelope cells 5.3 °C to 22.8 °C), warmest day 27.7 °C in January (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 7.7 °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: 57 to 60% 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 22 °C in Jul to 28 °C in Jan; mean night from 12 °C in Jul to 19 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 771 mm of rain a year, most in Dec. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 1089 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 5.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 39.2 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°50°39.2° 99th-percentile day (undated)5.0° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 26–39RH 57–60 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 1089 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 °C28 / 24–3428 / 24–3627 / 23–3725 / 22–3724 / 20–3522 / 18–3222 / 17–3023 / 19–2926 / 20–3027 / 21–3327 / 22–3427 / 23–33
Night °C18 / 15–2219 / 15–2318 / 14–2417 / 12–2515 / 9–2513 / 6–2412 / 5–2313 / 7–2214 / 10–2316 / 12–2317 / 13–2318 / 14–22
Rain mm84 / 0–18178 / 1–16883 / 10–17159 / 24–18947 / 10–20334 / 5–20434 / 2–22247 / 2–26564 / 7–21973 / 29–17383 / 3–15485 / 0–170
DLI39 / 34–4439 / 34–4336 / 31–4332 / 26–4229 / 20–4026 / 17–3727 / 19–3429 / 23–3634 / 28–4037 / 30–4238 / 31–4438 / 32–46
RH %60 / 36–6660 / 34–6660 / 41–6660 / 48–6758 / 50–6757 / 50–6857 / 49–6859 / 47–6960 / 46–6960 / 50–6759 / 44–6660 / 38–66

Each figure is the median across the 1089 grid cells holding the 1454 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 2361:4240 (-28.075, 32.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 5.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 7.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.2 °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 1089 distinct grid cells holding the 1454 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2361:4240 (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 -28.00_31.875, lapse-corrected -45 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 311 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.
NativeCape Verde, Benin, Burkina, Gambia, The, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Rwanda, Zaïre, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Cape Provinces, Caprivi Strip, Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Northern Provinces
Kew's description“tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-25.815, 27.553 · in the densest population, 500 records (34% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1465 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 876 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 4925 km away. 19 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 11 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 inside the densest 4° block of the 1465 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Ficus thonningiiFicus thonningiiFicus thonningiiFicus thonningiiFicus thonningiiFicus thonningiiFicus thonningiiFicus thonningii

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (2); dune_ninja, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF (3); i_c_riddell, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF; Eugene Hahndiek, CC BY-SA, iNaturalist via GBIF (2).

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 thonningii, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used by people in Zegie Peninsula, Northwestern Ethiopia
Tilahun Teklehaymanot, Mirutse Giday (2007) · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
Qualitative phytochemical screening and in vitro antimicrobial effects of methanol stem bark extract of Ficus thonningii (Moraceae)
Hadiza Abdullahi Usman, F. I. Abdulrahman, A Usman (2010) · African Journal of Traditional Complementary and Alternative Medicines
3D printing of cellulose nanocrystals based composites to build robust biomimetic scaffolds for bone tissue engineering
Kanga Marius N’Gatta, Habib Belaid, Joelle El Hayek, Edja Florentin Assanvo (2022) · Scientific Reports
The importance of figs for frugivores in a South African coastal forest
Bärbel Bleher, C.J. Potgieter, David N. Johnson, Katrin Böhning‐Gaese (2003) · Journal of Tropical Ecology
Phytochemistry, pharmacology and ethnomedicinal uses of Ficus thonningii (Blume moraceae): A review
Rachael Dangarembizi, Kennedy H. Erlwanger, Doice Moyo, Eliton Chivandi (2013) · African Journal of Traditional Complementary and Alternative Medicines
Fragmentation and local disturbance of forests reduce frugivore diversity and fruit removal in Ficus thonningii trees
Jasper Mbae Kirika, Bärbel Bleher, Katrin Böhning‐Gaese, Robert Chira (2007) · Basic and Applied Ecology
The fig wasp fauna of the receptacles of Ficus thonningii lHymenopterac Chalcidoidear
Z Bou ccaron, Ek, A. Watsham, J.T. Wiebes (1981) · Tijdschrift voor Entomologie
Flavonoids and other bioactive constituents from Ficus thonningii Blume (Moraceae)
Yannick Stéphane Fotsing Fongang, Jean Jules Kezetas Bankeu, Muhammad Shaiq Ali, Angelbert F. Awantu (2014) · Phytochemistry Letters

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 answered
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 94 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.