Shrubs, scandent. Old branchlets glabrous, young branchlets densely covered with coarse dark brown hairs. Stipules caducous, lanceolate, ca. 4 cm. Leaves distichous; petiole ca. 1 cm, sparsely pubescent; leaf blade brown when dry, oblong to oblong-elliptic, 7-35 × 2.5-15 cm, ± leathery, glabrous, abaxially pubescent and glabrescent, densely covered with brownish red short pubescence or densely brown tomentose, adaxially glabrous or pubescent among veins, base cuneate to occasionally rounded, margin entire, apex shortly acuminate; basal lateral veins not extending to 1/3 of leaf blade length, secondary veins 5-7 on each side of midvein. Figs axillary on leafy or on leafless branchlets, globose, pear-shaped, or conic, 1-2(-5) cm in diam., surface sparsely tuberculate, glabrous, pubescent, or densely covered with brown scale-like hairs, inside with bristles, sessile or pedunculate, apical pore slightly navel-like; involucral bracts reniform, pubescent. Male flowers: near apical pore, pedicellate; calyx lobes 4, oblanceolate, unequal in size; stamens 2; filaments very short; anthers oblong, mucronate. Gall flowers: pedicellate; calyx lobes 4, ± spatulate, unequal in size; style subapical. Female flowers: subsessile; calyx lobes 4; style subapical; stigma small. Achenes oblong, slightly depressed, 2-2.5 mm. Fl. Apr-Aug, fr. Jun-Aug.

Ficus pubigera Miquel (Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugduno-Batavi 3: 294. 1867) is an invalid name, so it does not have priority.

The variation within this species is considerable, and some of the varieties may deserve specific status.

Rain forests, forests, mountain slopes, limestone areas; 400-1400 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, SE Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim, Thailand, Vietnam].