This is an anomalous species referred to in the literature as an Indian form of F. carica that is used for hybridising in edible fig plantations and is sometimes regarded as the same species: it is a small to medium tree with spreading branches. Leaves rough, ovate and regularly toothed, occasionally 3-5-7 lobed. Fruits smaller than those of f. carica. [F. pseudocarica Miq., f. pseudosycomorus Decne.]
India, Nepal, NE Africa
Several specimens of this taxon with lobed leaves and growing in Victoria were sent to Kew, England for identification and tentatively identified as this species (one was labelled F. carica var. spontanea), although F. carica and F. spontanea are known to be very similar. F. sycomorus L., Egyptian Sycamore from Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, it differs from F. palmata in having leaves that are entire or slightly toothed, rough on the upper surface only and with blunt tips; the yellow, orange or red mature figs are in clusters. It is occasionally encountered and a specimen may be seen at the Adelaide Botanic Garden.
Specimens NSW: Sydney (Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, bed fronting Macquarie Street). VIC: Fairfield (former Hospital about 16 m in 1982); Hamilton (49 Kennedy St, 7 m tall in 1990).
Source: (1997). Moraceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
