Ficus benjamina (weeping fig)

Japanese name: ベンジャミンゴムノキ
Scientific name: Ficus benjamina

[Overview]
An evergreen tree grown as a foliage plant.
In its native range it reaches 20 m in height and produces aerial roots.
White milky sap comes out when the leaves or stems are damaged.
The bark is grayish white to pale brown.
It branches well, and the branch tips droop in arches.
The leaves are simple and alternate, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 5–12 cm long and 2–6 cm wide, with pointed tips and a glossy surface.
Two syconia form in the leaf axils, and because the flowers are borne inside the syconium, the fruit ripens with no flowers visible from the outside.
The fruit is globose to ovate, about 2 cm across, stalkless, and orange-red.
Flowering and fruiting almost never occur in indoor cultivation.
The seeds are dispersed by birds; in the wild they germinate on trees and grow as epiphytes, and as they grow, their aerial roots may cover the host tree and kill it.
For this reason it is also called the strangler tree.

[Uses]
The leaves and roots are used medicinally.
The bark is used for rope.
The sap can be used as a raw material for natural rubber.
The wood is of low quality, but is used for interiors, small articles, fruit crates, fuel and so on.

[Cultivation]
Propagate by cuttings or air layering.
It prefers fertile soil in a sunny, well-drained site.
It tolerates bright shade.
It is safest to keep it at 5°C or above over winter, and in winter it is kept in a bright place such as by a window.
For variegated cultivars, 10°C or above is ideal to preserve the coloring.
It is sensitive to changes in environment, and drops its leaves right after being brought indoors in winter or moved to a different environment, but this is to adapt to the new surroundings.
From spring to autumn, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries, and keep it on the dry side in winter.
In summer it should be kept hot and humid, and in winter it tends to dry out, so misting the leaves with a sprayer is beneficial.
In spring and autumn, apply slow-release fertilizer placed on the soil.
It tolerates pruning well.
Pests and diseases include anthracnose, spider mites, scale insects and aphids.

View this page in Japanese (日本語)