| 1 | Plants monoecious, the figs containing pistillate flowers with different style lengths and staminate (or neuter) flowers; leaves usually spirally arranged, rarely subdistichous or subopposite; lamina rarely scabrous |
| 1' | Plants (gyno)dioecious, the figs containing either staminate flowers and pistillate flowers with short styles or only pistillate flowers with long styles (or also neuter flowers), rarely the styles different in length (F. itoana); leaves often distichous or (sub)opposite |
| 2 | Figs without interfloral bracts; staminate flowers ostiolar and subtended or enveloped by bracteoles |
| 2' | Figs with interfloral bracts; staminate flowers mostly disperse and without bracteoles |
| 3 | Waxy gland one, at the base of the midrib beneath; aerial adventitious roots usually present; stamen usually 1; stigmas usually 1 and distinctly papillate, or if 2 or not distinctly papillate, then the fruits usually (partly) embedded in the wall of the fig |
| 3' | Waxy glands two, in the axils of the basal lateral veins beneath (or absent); aerial roots absent; stamens 1 or 2; stigma usually 2, usually without distinct papillae |
| 4 | Stipules often not fully amplexicaul; lamina often asymmetric; bracts mostly scattered on the peduncle and not 3 in a whorl as basal bracts; pistillode (or pistil) always present in the staminate flower |
| 4' | Stipules (nearly always) fully amplexicaul; lamina symmetric or asymmetric; basal bracts 3, in a whorl, sometimes basal and lateral bracts not distinguishable; pistillode rarely present |
| 5 | Root-climbers usually with pronounced leaf dimorphy |
| 5' | Trees or shrubs without aerial roots and without leaf dimorphy |
| 6 | Staminate flowers ostiolar and (mostly) subtended or enveloped by bracteoles; figs often cauliflorous or flagelliflorous; lateral bracts often present; lamina often asymmetric; in dried material the nodes of leafy twigs often thicker than the internodes and the lamina with lead-coloured spots above |
| 6' | Staminate flowers disperse or ostiolar, not subtended by bracteoles; figs mostly axillary or just below the leaves; lamina symmetric; in dried material the nodes of leafy twigs almost as thick as the internodes and lead-coloured spots absent on the lamina above |
