The Banana Fig, Ficus pleurocarpa, also known as the Gabi Fig or Karpe Fig, is a monoecious (hermaphrodite), fruit bearing tree, indigenous to the wet tropical rain-forests of north-eastern Queensland in Australia. The banana fig commences life as a hemiepiphyte and afterward becoming a tree up to 25 meters in height.


Ficus pleurocarpa is a member of the family Moraceae the genus Ficus. It is one of the few figs known to be pollinated by more than one species of fig wasp more accurately by two species of fig wasp-Pleistodontes regalis and Pleistodontes deuterus.

Ficus pleurocarpa leaves are 15-25cm long and about 5-10cm wide, thick and shiny. The fruit (fig) is encapsulated inflorescence occasionally mentioned as a syconium; flowers and seeds grow jointly to form a single mass. In the female fig tree, the male flower parts fail to develop and as a result produce the edible figs.

The Syconia (fruits) of the Banana Fig are cylindrical shaped, orange or red in color, 4-6cm long and 2-3cm in diameter. Ficus pleurocarpa fruits are edible and they are consumed fresh or dried, they are relatively small and soft but tasteful when ripe red.

Tree propagation is by seed, at first the plant is growing as a hemiepiphytte which means it grows upon another plant such as a tree non-parasitically gaining physical support and later grows roots down into the ground to become a tree.

Banana fig, Ficus pleurocarpa

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