Two very different Ficus genotypes, ‘Green Island’ ficus and Indian laurel fig, are often identified as the same species, Ficus microcarpa. Because of uncertainty of their scientific names, I refer to them by cultivar name and common name, respectively.
Both ‘Green Island’ ficus and Indian laurel fig have simple, alternate leaves. They both emit milky latex when leaves or stem are broken. And each has circular stem scars from detached ochrea. So they are both in the genus Ficus. And both are extremely common in South Florida landscapes.
‘Green Island’ ficus and Indian laurel fig are each homogeneous. There are no known intergrades between them. Considering their differences, there is no rationale for putting ‘Green Island’ ficus and Indian laurel fig in the same species.
‘Green Island’ ficus
The ‘Green Island’ ficus plants on the right are widely grown in median strips and next to sidewalks. With little or no pruning, ‘Green Island’ ficus maintains clumpy mounds usually less than 1 m tall. Specimens can grow over 4 m tall, as I have seen at Richard Lyons Nursery in the Redlands, Miami-Dade County. ‘Green Island’ ficus’s thick, almost succulent, shiny leaves are apically acute or obtuse. ‘Green Island’ plants are not apparently affected by the fig whitefly. There are no major pest or nutritional problems in the landscape.
Indian laurel fig
In contrast, Indian laurel fig is often pruned into narrow hedges, 2 to 4 m tall. Leaves of Indian laurel fig are thin and apically acuminate, and often defoliated by fig whitefly, which kill it unless treated chemically. Indian laurel fig grows rapidly and must be pruned several times per year to maintain an acceptable shape. Without pruning it can grow to 10 m tall and spread by aerial roots, which ‘Green Island’ ficus does not seem to do.
Unlike Indian laurel fig, which has been grown in South Florida landscapes for many decades, ‘Green Island’ was more recently introduced, probably by the 1990s.
A mixture of treatments
Different sources have treated ‘Green Island’ ficus and Indian laurel fig in different ways. The Florida Invasive Species Council said Ficus microcarpa subsp. fuyuensis is sold as ‘Green Island Ficus’ in “Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council’s 2011 List of Invasive Plant Species,” https://www.floridain vasives.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2011ListBrochure.pdf
The infraspecific distinction between ‘Green Island’ ficus and Cuban laurel fig might resolve the problem. Assuming that these tax are published scientific names properly applied.
As to Indian laurel fig, there has long been identity confusion of names, not just identification as Ficus microcarpa, but also Ficus nitida. Kew’s Plants of the World Online says Ficus nitida is a synonym of Ficus benjamina) and Ficus retusa which has oblong leaves. I have not seen this species in South Florida. George Rogers in Landscape Plants for South Florida (6th edition, 2021, dark blue cover) shows Ficus benjamina as conforming to my concept of Ficus microcarpa.
Elsewhere, for example, in the online Florida Plant Atlas, the distinction is made that Ficus benjamina has lateral veins scarcely pronounced on the leaf undersides. Ficus microcarpa has lateral veins that are pronounced below. ‘Green Island’ ficus is not mentioned or shown, probably because it has not established on its own in Florida. Even in India, where both Ficus benjamina and Ficus microcarpa have long occurred and been recognized, their distinction is subtle.
So ‘Green Island’ ficus adds to the identity confusion of Ficus microcarpa and similar looking species. For a genus of some 800 species, it is not surprising that there would be confusion of species identity. However, for such widely grown genotypes such as Green Island’ ficus and Indian laurel fig, it is time for an explanation.
(Originally posted 17 Mar 2016 and expanded 16 Jun 2025.)