Ficus benjamina

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Family Moraceae

Taxonomy: Ficus benjamina L.

Synonyms: 12 (APC 2026-07-30)

Ficus benjamina L. var. benjamina (nomenclatural synonym)
Ficus benjamina var. bracteata Corner (taxonomic synonym)
Ficus benjamina var. lehuntei F.M.Bailey (taxonomic synonym)
Ficus benjamina var. nuda (Miq.) M.F.Barrett (taxonomic synonym)
Ficus benjaminea F.Muell. (orthographic variant)
Ficus nitida Thunb. (taxonomic synonym)
Ficus retusa var. nitida (Thunb.) King (taxonomic synonym)
Ficus retusa var. nitida (Thunb.) King ex F.M.Bailey (taxonomic synonym)
Ficus retusa var. nitida (Thunb.) Miq. (taxonomic synonym)
Urostigma nitidum (Thunb.) Miq. (taxonomic synonym)
Urostigma nudum Miq. (taxonomic synonym)
Urosyigma nitidum An.Kumar, Bajpai, A.K.Mishra, N.Sahu, S.Behera & L.B.Chaudhary (taxonomic synonym)

Distribution (APC): NT, Qld

Profiles: APC, Flora of Australia, ALA, iNaturalist, NT eFlora, ATRP

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_2023 (20), Brock_1993 (12), Cooper_2013 (11), Crowley_2007 (2), Gross_2005 (4), Jagdish_2020 (4), Kew_2019_1 (2), Kew_2019_6 (2), Kooyman_2011 (8), Metcalfe_2009 (19), NTH_2014 (1), NTH_2022 (5), NTH_2023 (14), Nano_2011 (2), RussellSmith_2012 (8), Sjostrom_2006 (3), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Wright_2000 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 50 traits from 121 records in 19 datasets.

Traits by category (click to expand). For categorical traits, the values are listed. For numerical traits, the mean and range are shown.

fire response

resprouting_capacity (categorical): fire_killed (2); partial_resprouting (1); resprouts (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Metcalfe_2009; Nano_2011; RussellSmith_2012]

flower morphology

sex_type (categorical): monoecious (3) [sources: Gross_2005; NTH_2022; Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 10 mm (8-12 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013]
fruit_width (numerical): 10 mm (8-12 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013]
fruit_height (numerical): 10 mm (8-12 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): syconium (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013; Gross_2005]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (1); fleshy (3) [sources: Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; Metcalfe_2009; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (3) [sources: Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_colour (categorical): black (1); pink (1); purple (1); red (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]

leaf morphology

leaf_area (numerical): 4320 mm2 (4320-4320 mm2) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
leaf_length (numerical): 81.83 mm (30-125 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; NTH_2023]
leaf_width (numerical): 34.5 mm (15-60 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; NTH_2023]
petiole_length (numerical): 1.18 cm (0.4-1.8 cm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (3); lanceolate (2); oblanceolate (2); oblong (1); ovate (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; NTH_2023]
leaf_base_shape (categorical): cordate (2); cuneate (2); obtuse (1); rounded (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
leaf_margin (categorical): entire (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
leaf_lobation (categorical): unlobed (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (4) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf_arrangement (categorical): distichous (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
plant_growth_form (categorical): tree (6) [sources: Brock_1993; Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011; Metcalfe_2009; NTH_2022; Wenk_2022]
life_form (categorical): phanerophyte (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
life_history (categorical): perennial (4) [sources: Brock_1993; Metcalfe_2009; NTH_2022; Wenk_2023]
plant_growth_substrate (categorical): hemiepiphyte (1); lithophyte (1) [sources: NTH_2022]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (2) [sources: NTH_2022; Wenk_2022]
leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (3) [sources: Brock_1993; Kooyman_2011; NTH_2014]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
root_structure (categorical): proteoid_root (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
pollination_syndrome (categorical): bee (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
dispersal_syndrome (categorical): endozoochory (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
dispersers (categorical): bats (1); birds (1) [sources: Cooper_2013]
flowering_time (categorical): nnnnnnnyyynn (1) [sources: Brock_1993]
seedbank_location (categorical): soil_seedbank (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (2); short_persistent (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009; RussellSmith_2012]
clonal_spread_mechanism (categorical): non_clonal (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
bud_bank_location (categorical): basal_stem_buds (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 4.42 mg (0.18-25 mg) [sources: Jagdish_2020; Kew_2019_1; Metcalfe_2009]
seed_length (numerical): 1 mm (1-1 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
seed_width (numerical): 1 mm (1-1 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011]

stem morphology

wood_density (numerical): 0.53 mg/mm3 (0.53-0.53 mg/mm3) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 15.83 m (10-20 m) [sources: Brock_1993; Cooper_2013; NTH_2023]
plant_physical_defence_structures (categorical): absent (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
ABRS_2023	14	20	Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
Metcalfe_2009	19	19	E. Laliberte, J. A. Wells, F. DeClerck, D. J. Metcalfe, C. P. Catterall, C. Queiroz, I. Aubin, S. P. Bonser, Y. Ding, J. M. Fraterrigo, S. McNamara, J. W. Morgan, D. S. Merlos, P. A. Vesk, and M. M. Mayfield. “Land-use intensification reduces functional redundancy and response diversity in plant communities”. Ecology Letters 13.1 (2010), pp. 76-86. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01403.x.
NTH_2023	11	14	D. of Land Resource Management and N. T. of Australia. Northern Territory Flora Online. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://eflora.nt.gov.au/.
Brock_1993	9	12	J. Brock and A. Dunlop. Native plants of northern Australia. Reed New Holland, 1993. ISBN: 9781877069246.
Cooper_2013	9	11	W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
Kooyman_2011	6	8	R. Kooyman, M. Rossetto, W. Cornwell, and M. Westoby. “Phylogenetic tests of community assembly across regional to continental scales in tropical and subtropical rain forests”. Global Ecology and Biogeography 20 (2011), pp. 707-716. doi: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2010.00641.x.
RussellSmith_2012	4	8	J. Russell-Smith, M. R. Gardener, C. Brock, K. Brennan, C. P. Yates, and B. Grace. “Fire persistence traits can be used to predict vegetation response to changing fire regimes at expansive landscape scales - an Australian example”. Journal of Biogeography 39 (2012), pp. 1657-1668. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2012.02714.x.
NTH_2022	5	5	D. of Land Resource Management and N. T. of Australia. Northern Territory Flora Online. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://eflora.nt.gov.au/.
Gross_2005	4	4	C. L. Gross. “A comparison of the sexual systems in the trees from the Australian tropics with other tropical biomes-more monoecy but why?”. American Journal of Botany 92.6 (2005), pp. 907-919. doi: 10.3732/ajb.92.6.907.
Jagdish_2020	2	4	A. Jagdish. “Unpublished data: Germination photoperiod sensitivity of Australian Plants, University of New South Wales”. 2020.
Sjostrom_2006	3	3	A. Sjöström and C. L. Gross. “Life-history characters and phylogeny are correlated with extinction risk in the Australian angiosperms”. Journal of Biogeography 33.2 (2006), pp. 271-290. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2005.01393.x.
Crowley_2007	2	2	G. Crowley, M. Gardener, and M. Marrinan. Tropical savannas fire response database. 2007. url: [www.landmanager.org.au](www.landmanager.org.au).
Kew_2019_1	1	2	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
Kew_2019_6	1	2	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Germination data from the Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
Nano_2011	2	2	C. E. M. Nano and P. J. Clarke. “How do drought and fire influence the patterns of resprouting in Australian deserts?”. Plant Ecology 212 (2011), pp. 2095-2110. doi: 10.1007/s11258-011-9988-x.
Wenk_2022	2	2	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
NTH_2014	1	1	Northern Territory Herbarium. Flora of the Darwin Region Online. 2014. url: http://www.lrm.nt.gov.au/plants-and-animals/herbarium/darwin_flora_online.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.
Wright_2000	1	1	I. J. Wright, H. T. Clifford, R. Kidson, M. L. Reed, B. L. Rice, and M. Westoby. “A survey of seed and seedling characters in 1744 Australian dicotyledon species: Cross-species trait correlations and correlated trait-shifts within evolutionary lineages”. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 69 (2000), pp. 521-547. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2000.tb01222.x.