Friis, I. (1999) Moraceae in Flora of Somalia 2: 91-104
Plants monoecious tree or shrubs, usually epiphytic at first, with watery, colorless pr milky latex. Leaves usually alternate, sometimes opposite or subopposite, petiolate; stipules free to more or less fused, encircling the stem covering the axillary bud, caducous, leaving a circular scar around the stem; blades pinnately or palmately veined. Inflorescences bisexual, fleshy, globular or pear-shaped, hollow receptacle, figs, with male, female, and sterile or gall flowers covering the inside and a narrow opening, the ostiole partly closed by bracts. Figs sessile or pedunculate, usually with 2-3 basal bracts located where the receptacle narrows to the peduncle, sometimes also with bracts spirally arranged on the outside; receptacles occasionally stipitate (having a short stalk above the basal bracts) when young; figsand peduncles sometimes completely covered when young by a flat or conical structure, the calyptra, consisting of fused bracts attached to the branch at the base of the peduncle. Flowers very small, on inner receptacle surfaces, bracteate, pedicellate or sessile. Male flowers usually few, mostly located near the ostiole; tepals 2-4; stamens 1-6; ovaries absent. Female flowers numerous; tepals 2-6; ovaries ovoid, more or less asymmetrical; styles lateral with 1-2 stigmatic branches. Gall flowers usually like the female flowers but pedicellate and with a reduced style and stigma. Fruits achenes.
There are about 880 species of Ficus. They grow in all tropical regions of the world. There are 13 species in Somaliland and Somalia.
Note: GBIF records include introduced and cultivated plants. Consequently, the distribution shown often differs from statements about a taxon's native distribution.