Bi Li

Ficus pumila L. (Moraceae), the creeping fig or climbing fig, is an evergreen woody vine native to East Asia, widely cultivated in southern China, Taiwan, Japan, and Vietnam. The plant exhibits striking dimorphism: juvenile stems are slender, densely clinging by adventitious roots, bearing small ovate-cordate leaves 1.5-2.5 cm long; mature fertile branches are stout and free-climbing with larger, leathery, elliptic leaves up to 10 cm long. Like other figs, the inflorescence is a syconium, here pear-shaped, 4-7 cm long, ripening from green to purple, containing many tiny achene-like fruits embedded in a gelatinous pulp. The pulp of mature receptacles is used to make liang fen jelly in Taiwan. In TCM, Bi Li (the receptacles and stems) tonifies the kidneys, strengthens sinews, invigorates blood, and relieves swelling.