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Ficus religiosa
Bo Tree
Sacred Fig
Not native to Florida
A tree occasionally used in landscapes or escaped from cultivation in Miami-Dade and the Keys, plus Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties. Also found in Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean. Native to India and southeast Asia.
Often epiphytic when young, growing to an erect plant up to 30m (~100 ft.) tall. The distinctive leaves are broadly ovate to ovate-orbiculate with entire margins, sometimes wavy, 7-25cm (2-3/4 to ~10 in.) long and 4-16cm (1-1/2 to 6-1/4 in.)wide with a slender petiole 3.5-13cm (1-3/8 to 5 in.) long. The bases are rounded to truncate and the tip is long-caudate to long-acuminate and from a third to half as long as the entire blade. Leaves are alternate along the stem, sometimes crowded near the tip, with a ovate to lanceolate stipule up to 4cm (1-1/2 in.) long usually only persistent on the terminal leaf.
Ficus religiosa is a member of the Moraceae - Mulberry family.
Other species of the Ficus genus in the Wild Florida Photo database:
Ficus aurea - STRANGLER FIG
Ficus elastica - RUBBER PLANT
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species
USDA Plant Profile for this species
Date record last modified: Feb 20, 2020
