15 Facts About Ficus aurea

Ficus aurea, commonly known as the Florida strangler fig, golden fig, or higueron, is a tree in the family Moraceae that is native to the U S state of Florida, the northern and western Caribbean, southern Mexico and Central America south to Panama.

The specific epithet Ficus aurea was applied by English botanist Thomas Nuttall who described the species in 1846.

Ficus aurea is classified in the subgenus Urostigma and the section Americana.

In 1768, Scottish botanist Philip Miller described Ficus aurea maxima, citing Carl Linnaeus' Hortus Cliffortianus and Hans Sloane's Catalogus plantarum quæ in insula Jamaica .

Since this use has become widespread, Berg proposed that the name Ficus aurea maxima be conserved in the way DeWolf had used it, a proposal that was accepted by the nomenclatural committee.

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Reassigning the name Ficus maxima did not leave F aurea as the oldest name for this species, as German naturalist Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link had described Ficus ciliolosa in 1822.

Conserving F aurea would mean that precedence would be given to that name over all others.

Monoecious figs like F aurea have both male and female flowers within the syconium.

Ficus aurea is found in central and southern Florida as far north as Volusia County; it is one of only two native fig species in Florida.

Ficus aurea is a strangler fig—it tends to establish on a host tree which it gradually encircles and "strangles", eventually taking the place of that tree in the forest canopy.

However, in dry forests on Great Exuma in The Bahamas, F aurea establishes exclusively on palms, in spite of the presence of several other large trees that should provide suitable hosts.

In Costa Rican cloud forests, where F aurea is "the most conspicuous component" of intact forest, trees in forest patches supported richer communities of epiphytic bryophytes, while isolated trees supported greater lichen cover.

Fruit of Ficus aurea is edible and was used for food by the Native Americans and early settlers in Florida; it is still eaten occasionally as a backyard source of native fruit.

Individual F aurea trees are common on dairy farms in La Cruz, Canitas and Santa Elena in Costa Rica, since they are often spared when forest is converted to pasture.

Ficus aurea is used as an ornamental tree, an indoor tree and as a bonsai.