Anita’s Blog – Invasive Sacred Fig
- jjvanm
- Aug 4
- 5 min read
The cover of “The American Legion Magazine” for August 2025 announced, “America’s Most Unwanted; The high cost of invasive species.” It captured my attention not only because one of my favorite topics is nay-saying invasive species, but also because it was an unusual topic for a veterans’ organization magazine. *
Not just wildlife and plants can be invasive, viruses and bacteria, too; West Nile virus, bird flu, COVID-19, European starlings, zebra mussels, Asian carp and other Texas troubles were noted in the article along with plights in other U.S. regions and the enormous cost – “. . . more than $3 billion a year addressing invasive species.”
Invasive species are bad. Aggressive species can be, too, they don’t get as much attention. Be careful what you plant. Better yet, know what you're planting, read about it; you can ask Google: "Is _______ invasive in Texas?"
Invasive species can cause significant harm to ecosystems, economies and human health; they can lead to the extinction of native plants and animals, destroy biodiversity and outcompete native species.
Aggressive species, on the other hand, as described gently on one Internet site, “native plants that spread faster than preferred.” It’s not really that simple, if you factor in all the factors.
There is a whole long list of American state and federal organizations that designate what is invasive. They don’t all have the same lists.
One website I use frequently is www.texasinvasives.org. To quote them: it is a “Texas-sized partnership to manage non-native invasive plants and pests in Texas. The partnership includes state and federal agencies, conservation organizations, green industry, academia and other private and public stakeholders who share in the common goal of protecting Texas from the threat of invasive species.” For a list of partners, visit this link: https://www.texasinvasives.org/pages/about.php
Jumping to the crux of this missive, we moved to Los Fresnos earlier this year. I was hard-pressed to identify most of the plants on the less than two acres of land at our new property. I relied on iNaturalist.org and texasinvasives.org to help me out. In a nutshell, tropical exotic plants from Southeast China and southern and eastern Africa dominate the yard. The plants bloom, but I rarely see butterflies or bees. Invasive brown anoles are everywhere.
I spent the first couple of months removing a dozen large Brazilian pepper tree shrubs, more than a dozen oleander shrubs, 17 crepe myrtle, about a dozen Caribbean agave, countless soap aloe and digging up numerous large bunches of small fortnight lily. All planted on purpose, according to the neighbors, and not maintained nor contained.
Two of the more problematic plants are described in this blog post. The first one is a tree, sacred fig, Ficus religiosa. It is listed as invasive at the Texas Invasives plant database.
The second plant, trailing daisy, Sphagneticola trilobata, is a ground cover. It is not listed as invasive at the Texas Invasives database. However, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center considers it invasive, it has been included in the American Lands Alliance’s list of worst U.S. invasive plant species (PIER, 2014), and IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Global Invasive Species Database, lists it as one of the world’s 100 worst invasive species. I would not dispute that.
First, the tree.
Sacred fig is also known as the Bodhi tree and Bo tree. It is regarded as sacred among the believers of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. If that doesn’t apply, no worries. In its homeland of Indo China and the Indian subcontinent it probably does just fine.
In the warm, humid climates of USDA hardiness zones 10-12, (like south and coastal Texas) it thrives. It grows to be huge with long reaching branches. Think perfect tree if one were to build a multi-storied three-bedroom treehouse among its branches as a permanent residence.
Sacred fig tree’s invasive criteria include these points: fast-growing, tolerates various climates and soil types and has a reported lifespan of more than 3,000 years. It spreads through its seeds and through its roots, which can sprout new trees.
The leaves are huge, too, reaching 7 inches in length and 5 inches wide. They are attractive (on the tree; dastardly after they leave the tree): cordate in shape with a distinctive extended drip tip and prominent veins that are clearly visible.
Leaf drop is a common problem. It is caused by environmental stress, like sudden temperature changes, underwatering or overwatering (or just a whim). When we first moved into the new house we evidenced where branches of the huge tree had been lopped off the roof.
My first thoughts about the tree when we first viewed the property, were: it’s got to go; it’s not native and it’s huge. Periodically during the first three months after we moved in, we would comment to each other: that tree’s gotta go.
In the fourth month, after the tree shed all of its (hundred million) leaves for the third time, and we’d slogged shin deep through the tough, leathery leaves all over the drive and yard, we began seriously studying the tree. We kept saying, yes, we can do it. And we began.
It was labor intensive. The cut bark oozed a sticky substance, latex, leaving brown goo on clothes that didn’t launder out well and ruined gloves. We sort of brought down a large limb a day, cut it into manageable chunks to take to the roadside for debris pick up.
After the fourth massive limb was at the roadside, we took a break. For a couple of weeks, we studied the remaining tree from every angle, considered our ages, assessed the dangers, considered our ages again and got a professional tree service phone number from our neighbors.
The tree people came right away. They were not cheap, but impressive. (Below photos by Anita Westervelt)
Both trees are now gone. Yes, there was another huge sacred fig on the other side of our property.
We do not miss the shade nor the leaves that do not deteriorate. I had used some of the old, dried leaves in the bottom of plastic pots instead of coffee filters (similar size) when potting up plants and then thought better of it in case new trees sprouted from the leaf veins or stems – well, you never know. Arundo donax (giant reed) will sprout new growth from chopped up, dried, seemingly dead pieces of cane – scary.
If sacred fig fruits at all in Texas (depends on a specific pollinator wasp), the fruits are not typically eaten by humans (latex, gastric distress).
This blog post went longer than anticipated. I’ll save the trailing daisy disaster for part two. In the meantime, if you’re considering a ground cover, run very quickly away from trailing daisy, Sphagneticola trilobata.
*The American Legion Magazine is a national general-interest publication, published monthly by The American legion for its members. A subscription is available for non-members, if interested, at magazine@legion.org
- 30 -
