All info on this page comes from Clément Duret´s two year study of this species in the wild.

This member of the Urticaceae family was first described Savigny in 1798, then renamed by Christian Gaudichaud in 1844. Obetia ficifolia is endemic to Réunion and Rodriguez islands. On Réunion Island the species grows mainly in the lee regions at low and middle altitude, generally on rock-cliffs, on basalt rampart-formations, and in ravines. It is distributed over areas principally in the north, north-west and south, south-east of the island, at altitudes between 15 and 800 metres above sea level. The adult specimen can grow to between three and five meters in height and its trunk may attain a diameter of thirty to forty centimetres or more. Thyrsoid inflorescences are generally well-developed, and capable of forming large tufts between leaves. The unisexual white flowers are minute. Can be reproduced by seeds or cuttings.