It had been thought that in Taiwan the white fig grew only in Kenting. Forestry officials could only conjecture as to how this white fig tree grew in the wild in Ilan: "Perhaps a migratory bird ate a seed of a white fig tree while stopping over in Hengchun and excreted it here, giving Ilan a single wild giant white fig tree."
台灣的白榕一向只分佈在南台灣的墾丁，宜蘭居然能見到白榕，林業學者至今無法參透，只能解釋為，「可能是有隻候鳥，在恆春落腳時以白榕種子裡腹，飛行來到宜蘭海岸邊時排了出來，因此宜蘭就有了這獨一無二的野生大白榕。」