Ficus carica (the edible fig) originated in the warm dry rocky cliffs and stony river banks of Iran and Afghanistan with a current natural wild distribution from N. India west to S. Europe. Hundreds of varieties of edible figs are cultivated in similar warm dry climates worldwide. For an excellent overview of the relationship between wild and cultivated Ficus carica see this article Kjellberg & Lesne (2020) Ficus carica Sauvage by Finn Kjellberg and Annick Lesne. France (2020).
See also this article about the Afghan Fig Ficus johannis var afghanistanica which is widely cultivated in Iran and Afghanistan and also grows wild in the surrounding regions.
The distribution of wild figs is limited to climates suitable for the survival of the pollinating fig wasp not by the climatic tolerance of the fig tree. For example seedless cultivated figs in the UK grow as far north as Edinburgh in Scotland but the UK climate is too cold for the pollinating fig wasp which in Europe is not found north of the Dordogne in central France. This means that figs in the UK can only be propagated by cuttings or from fig seeds which originated from warmer climates abroad. In essence Ficus carica can never become invasive in the UK because there is no pollinating wasp present to produce viable seeds.
It is of course possible that in years to come, the UK weather will be warm enough for fig wasps to to invade from France. The UK summer of 2025 was the hottest since records began in 1884 and cultivated figs in London ripened two weeks earlier than normal in early July, (usually late July).
Currently, there are at least two known populations of wild figs in the UK, one population grows along the banks of the river Don in Sheffield, with a second population growing in the stone walls of Bristol docks in SW England. It is most likely that these populations resulted from seeds defecated by humans who had eaten dried imported figs full of seeds. Cultivated Ficus carica fig trees are known to survive for centuries in the UK but as these “wild” trees cannot produce viable seeds they are doomed to eventual extinction, unless they are “saved” by climate change.
Thanks to Cosmo Phillipps and Mi Zhou for photos and information, Bristol Docks, August 2025.
