Editing Ficus (section)

==Description==
[[File:Ficus-AerialRoot.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Aerial root]]s that may eventually provide structural support]]
[[File:Ficus carica tree.jpg|right|thumb|A ''[[Ficus carica]]'' (common fig)]]
[[File:菩提樹 Ficus religiosa 20210421111446 01.jpg|thumb|right|The stipule of ''[[Ficus religiosa]]''. The white [[stipule]] contains a new leaf and a new stipule.]]
''Ficus'' is a [[pantropical]] genus of trees, shrubs, and vines occupying a wide variety of [[ecological niche]]s; most are [[evergreen]], but some deciduous species are found in areas outside of the tropics and to higher elevations.<ref name=Halevy1989>{{Cite book |title=Handbook of Flowering Volume 6 of CRC Handbook of Flowering |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZcTP7Kb01NAC&pg=PA331 |year=1989 |author=Halevy, Abraham H. |publisher=CRC Press |page=331 |isbn=978-0-8493-3916-5 |access-date=2009-08-25}}</ref> Fig species are characterized by their unique [[inflorescence]] and distinctive [[pollination syndrome]], which uses wasp species belonging to the family [[Agaonidae]] for pollination. Adult plants vary in size from ''[[Ficus benghalensis]]'' (the Indian banyan), a tall and speading tree with many adventitious roots which may cover a hectare (2.5 acres) or more of ground to ''Ficus nana'' of [[New Guinea]] which never exceeds one meter (forty inches) in height and width.<ref>{{cite journal | last= <not recorded> | date= 2005 | title= Moraceae - Ficus | journal= Flora Malesiana | volume= 17 | issue= part 2 | page= 436 }}</ref>

Specific identification of many of the species can be difficult, but members of the genus ''Ficus'' are relatively easy to recognize. Many have [[aerial root]]s and a distinctive shape or habit, and their fruits distinguish them from other plants. The fruit of ''Ficus'' is an [[inflorescence]] enclosed in an urn-like structure called a [[syconium]], which is lined on the inside with the fig's tiny flowers that develop into multiple ovaries on the inside surface.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://waynesword.palomar.edu/fruitid6.htm#figs |title=Ficus: The Remarkable Genus Of Figs |access-date=2021-05-16 |archive-date=2009-12-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091211212639/http://waynesword.palomar.edu/fruitid6.htm#figs |url-status=dead}}</ref> In essence, the fig fruit is a fleshy stem with multiple tiny flowers that fruit and coalesce.

Notably, three vegetative traits together are unique to figs. All figs present a white to yellowish [[latex]], some in copious quantities; the twig shows paired [[stipules]] —or circular scars if the stipules have fallen off; the lateral veins at the base of the leaf are steep, forming a tighter angle with the midrib than the other lateral veins, a feature referred to as "triveined".

Current [[molecular clock]] estimates indicate that ''Ficus'' is a relatively ancient genus, being at least 60 million years old,{{sfnp|Rønsted ''et al.''|2005}} and possibly as old as 80 million years. The main radiation of [[Extant taxon|extant]] species, however, may have taken place more recently, between 20 and 40 million years ago.

Some better-known species that represent the diversity of the genus include, alongside the [[common fig]], whose fingered [[fig leaf]] is well known in art and [[iconography]]: the [[weeping fig]] (''F.&nbsp;benjamina''), a [[hemiepiphyte]] with thin, tough leaves on pendulous stalks adapted to its [[rain forest]] habitat; the rough-leaved [[sandpaper fig]]s from Australia; and the [[creeping fig]] (''F.&nbsp;pumila''), a vine whose small, hard leaves form a dense carpet of foliage over rocks or garden walls.

Moreover, figs with different plant habits have undergone [[adaptive radiation]] in different [[biogeographic]] regions, leading to very high levels of [[alpha diversity]]. In the tropics,  ''Ficus'' commonly is the most species-rich plant genus in a particular forest. In Asia, as many as 70 or more species can co-exist.{{sfnp|Harrison|2005}} ''Ficus'' [[species richness]] declines with an increase in latitude in both hemispheres.{{sfnp|van Noort|van Harten|2006}}{{sfnp|Berg|Hijmann|1989}}

A description of fig tree cultivation is set out in [[Ibn al-'Awwam]]'s 12th-century agricultural work titled, ''Book on Agriculture''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ibn al-'Awwam |first=Yaḥyá |author-link=Ibn al-'Awwam |title=Le livre de l'agriculture d'Ibn-al-Awam (kitab-al-felahah) |year=1864 |location=Paris |publisher=A. Franck |translator=J.-J. Clement-Mullet |pages=277–281 (ch. 7 - Article 25) |url=https://archive.org/details/lelivredelagric00algoog/page/n14/mode/2up |language=fr |oclc=780050566}} (pp. [https://archive.org/details/lelivredelagric00algoog/page/n384/mode/2up 277]–281 (Article XXV)</ref>