Photo: H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Chinese Banyan

Ficus microcarpa

Also known as Indian Laurel Fig, Malayan Banyan, Curtain Fig, Ginseng Ficus, Laurel Fig

At a glance

Family

Moraceae (the fig and mulberry family)

Type

Evergreen tree or shrub, often grown as a strangler fig or trained bonsai

Parts used

Bark, aerial roots, and leaves (traditionally); foliage and roots ornamentally

Size

50 to 80 feet tall with a broad crown in the open ground; 1 to 3 feet as a potted or bonsai specimen

Bloom

Inconspicuous, the true flowers are hidden inside tiny green figs and rely on a single dedicated wasp species for pollination; figs ripen from yellow to deep red or black

Habitat

Native to southern China, the Indo-Malayan region, and northern Australia; now naturalized in warm coastal areas worldwide

Acquisition

Grow or buy

This plant in HerbSense

Key benefits

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Traditionally eased coughs

Soothed sore throats

Calmed fevers

Prized ornamental shade tree

Traditional uses

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Long before it became a fixture of office lobbies and bonsai benches, Ficus microcarpa held a quiet place in the folk medicine of southern China and Southeast Asia, where the bark and aerial roots were simmered into simple decoctions for fevers, coughs, and the aching joints of rheumatism. Coastal villages also valued the tree simply as shelter, its sprawling canopy a natural gathering spot, so its role in daily life grew to include both body and community. Healers in these traditions treated it as a humble, everyday remedy rather than a rare or ceremonial one, something any household near a banyan could turn to.

How to grow & use it

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Pairs well with

✦Mulberry leaf
✦Chrysanthemum flower
✦Licorice root

Substitutes

✦Mulberry leaf
✦Honeysuckle flower

Choose it when

“For the gardener drawn to living sculpture, roots poured like stone, patience rewarded in slow, tangled beauty.”

Did you know?

Ficus microcarpa is a true strangler fig: a bird or bat drops a seed high in the branches of another tree, and the fig sends fine roots down to the ground, thickening year by year until they encase and can eventually outlive the host it once depended on.

Safety

The milky sap of Chinese banyan can irritate skin and eyes and may trigger a reaction in people with a latex or fig allergy. It is also toxic to cats and dogs if chewed, so keep pets away from cut stems and leaves.