Ficus carica is an Asian species of flowering plant (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in the mulberry family (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), known as the common fig. It is the source of the fruit also called the fig and as such is an important crop in those areas where it is grown commercially. Native (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) to the Mediterranean (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and western Asia (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), it has been sought out and cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world, both for its fruit and as an ornamental plant (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).[3] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)[4] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) The species has become naturalized in scattered locations in Asia and North America.
Etymology[edit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
The word fig, first recorded in English in the 13th century, derives from (Old) French figue, itself from Occitan (Provençal) figa, from Romance *fica, from Classical Latin (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) ficus (fig or fig-tree).[7] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) Italian has fico, directly derived from Latin ficus. The name of the caprifig, Ficus caprificus Risso, is derived both from Latin capro (billygoat (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)) and English fig.[8] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Biology[edit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
Description[edit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
Ficus carica is a gynodioecious (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), deciduous (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) tree (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) or large shrub (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) that grows up to 7–10 metres (23–33 ft) tall, with smooth white bark (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Its fragrant leaves are 12–25 centimetres (4.7–9.8 in) long and 10–18 centimetres (3.9–7.1 in) wide, and are deeply lobed (three or five lobes).
The fig fruit develops as a hollow, fleshy structure called the syconium (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) that is lined internally with numerous unisexual (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) flowers. The tiny flowers bloom inside this cup-like structure. Although commonly called a fruit, the syconium is botanically an infructescence (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), a type of multiple fruit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). The small fig flowers and later small single-seeded (true) fruits line its interior surface. A small opening or ostiole (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), visible on the middle of the fruit, is a narrow passage that allows the specialized fig wasp (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Blastophaga psenes (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) to enter the inflorescence and pollinate the flowers, after which each fertilized ovule (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (one per flower, in its ovary (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)) develops into a seed. At maturity, these 'seeds' (actually single-seeded fruits) line the inside of each fig. See Ficus: Fig fruit and reproduction system (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
The edible mature syconium (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) stem develops into a fleshy false fruit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) bearing the numerous one-seeded fruits, which are technically druplets (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).[9] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) The whole fig fruit is 3–5 centimetres (1.2–2.0 in) long, with a green skin that sometimes ripens toward purple or brown. Ficus carica has milky sap, produced by laticifer (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) cells. The sap (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) of the green parts is an irritant (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) to human skin.[10] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Habitat[edit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
Mountain fig tree in Zibad (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
The common fig tree has been cultivated since ancient times (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and grows wild in dry and sunny locations with deep and fresh soil, and in rocky locations that are at sea level to 1,700 metres in elevation. It prefers relatively porous and freely draining soil, and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. Unlike other fig species, Ficus carica does not always require pollination by a wasp or from another tree,[11] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)[12] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) but can be pollinated by the fig wasp (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Blastophaga psenes (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) to produce seeds. Fig wasps are not present to pollinate in colder nations, e. g. the United Kingdom (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).[13] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Leaves and immature fruit
Figs in various stages of ripening
The plant tolerates seasonal (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) drought, and the Middle Eastern (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and Mediterranean climates (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) are especially suitable to it. Situated in a favorable habitat, mature specimens can grow to considerable size as large, dense, shade trees. Its aggressive root system precludes its cultivation in many urban locations, yet in nature this characteristic helps the plant to root in the most inhospitable locations. Having a great need of water, it is mostly a phreatophyte (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) that extracts the needed water from sources in or on the ground. Consequently, it frequently grows in locations with standing or running water, e. g. in valleys of rivers and in ravines that collect water. The deeply rooted (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) plant (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)searches for groundwater (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in aquifers (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), ravines (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), or cracks in rocks. With access to this water, the tree cools the hot environments in which it grows, thus producing fresh and pleasant habitat for many animals that shelter in its shade during periods of intense heat.
The mountain or rock fig ("Anjeer Kohi", انجیر کوهی, in Persian (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)) is a wild variety, tolerant of cold dry climates, of the semi-arid rocky montane regions of Iran (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), especially in the Kohestan Mountains of Khorasan (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).[10] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Ecology[edit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
Ficus carica is dispersed by birds and mammals that scatter their seeds in droppings. Fig fruit is an important food source for much of the fauna in some areas, and the tree owes its expansion to those that feed on its fruit. The common fig tree also sprouts from the root and stolon tissues.
The infructescence (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is pollinated (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) by a symbiosis (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) with a fig wasp (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (Blastophaga psenes (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)). The fertilized female wasp enters the fig through the scion (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), which has a tiny hole in the crown (the ostiole). She crawls on the inflorescence (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) inside the fig and pollinates some of the female flowers. She lays her eggs inside some of the flowers and dies. After weeks of development in their galls (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), the male wasps emerge before the females wasps do through holes they produce by chewing the galls. The male wasps then fertilize the female wasps by depositing semen in the hole in the gall. The male wasps later return to the remaining female wasps and enlarge the holes to enable the female wasps to emerge. Then some males enlarge holes in the scion, which enables the female wasps to disperse after collecting pollen from the developed male flowers. Female wasps now have a short time (<48 hours) to find another fig tree with receptive scions to spread the pollen, assist the tree in reproduction, and lay their own eggs to start a new cycle.[13] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Cultivation[edit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
From ancient times[edit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
"Schiocca": Calabrian (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) dried figs
Further information: Domestication of Ficus carica (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
The edible fig is one of the first plants that were cultivated by humans. Nine subfossil (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) figs of a parthenocarpic (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (and therefore sterile) type dating to about 9400–9200 BC were found in the early Neolithic (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) village Gilgal I (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (in the Jordan Valley (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), 13 km north of Jericho). The find precedes the domestication of wheat (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), barley (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), and legumes (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), and may thus be the first known instance of agriculture. It is proposed that this sterile but desirable type was planted and cultivated intentionally, one thousand years before the next crops were domesticated (wheat and rye (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)).[14] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Figs were widespread in ancient Greece (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), and their cultivation was described by both Aristotle (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and Theophrastus (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Aristotle noted that as in animal sexes, figs have individuals of two kinds, one (the cultivated fig) that bears fruit, and one (the wild caprifig) that assists the other to bear fruit. Further, Aristotle recorded that the fruits of the wild fig contain psenes (fig wasps (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)); these begin life as larvae, and the adult psen splits its "skin" (pupa) and flies out of the fig to find and enter a cultivated fig, saving it from dropping. Theophrastus observed that just as date palms (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) have male and female flowers, and that farmers (from the East) help by scattering "dust" from the male onto the female, and as a male fish releases his milt over the female's eggs, so Greek farmers tie wild figs to cultivated trees. They do not say directly that figs reproduce sexually, however.[15] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Figs were also a common food source for the Romans (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Cato the Elder (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), in his c. 160 BC De Agri Cultura (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), lists several strains of figs grown at the time he wrote his handbook: the Mariscan, African, Herculanean, Saguntine, and the black Tellanian (De agri cultura, ch. 8). The fruits were used, among other things, to fatten geese for the production of a precursor of foie gras (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Rome's first emperor (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Augustus (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), was reputed to have been poisoned with figs from his garden smeared with poison by his wife Livia (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).[16] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)[17] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) For this reason, or perhaps because of her horticultural expertise, a variety of fig known as the Liviana was cultivated in Roman gardens.[18] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
It was cultivated from Afghanistan (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) to Portugal (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), also grown in Pithoragarh (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in the Kumaon (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) hills of India (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). From the 15th century onwards, it was grown in areas including Northern Europe (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and the New World (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).[3] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) In the 16th century, Cardinal Reginald Pole (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) introduced fig trees to Lambeth Palace (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in London.
In 1769, Spanish missionaries led by Junipero Serra (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) brought the first figs to California. The Mission (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) variety, which they cultivated, is still popular.[19] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) The fact that it is parthenocarpic (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (self-pollinating) made it an ideal cultivar for introduction.
The Kadota cultivar (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is even older, being mentioned by the Roman naturalist Pliny in the 1st century A.D.[20] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Overwintering[edit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
People of the Italian diaspora (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) who live in cold-winter climates have the practice of burying imported fig trees to overwinter them and protect the fruiting hard wood from cold.[21] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) Italian immigrants in the 19th century introduced this common practice in cities such as New York (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Philadelphia (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Boston (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), and Toronto (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), where winters are normally too cold to leave the tree exposed.[22] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) This practice consists in digging a trench that is appropriate to the size of the specimen, some of which are more than 10 feet tall, severing part of the root system, and bending the specimen into the trench. Specimens are often wrapped in waterproof material to discourage development of mould (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and fungus (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), then covered with a heavy layer of soil and leaves. Sometimes plywood or corrugated metal is placed on top to secure the tree.[23] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) In borderline climates like New York City burying trees is no longer needed because low winter temperatures have increased. Often specimens are simply wrapped in plastic and other insulating material, or not protected if planted in a sheltered site against a wall that absorbs sunlight.[22] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Modern[edit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
Variegated fig
Fresh figs
The common fig is grown for its edible fruit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) throughout the temperate (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) world. It is also grown as an ornamental tree, and in the UK (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) the cultivars (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 'Brown Turkey'[24] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and ‘Ice Crystal’ (mainly grown for its unusual foliage)[25] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) have gained the Royal Horticultural Society (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)'s Award of Garden Merit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).[26] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Figs are also grown in Germany (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), mainly in private gardens inside built up areas. There is no commercial fig growing.[27] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) The Palatine region (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in the German South West has an estimated 80,000 fig trees. The variety Brown Turkey is the most widespread in the region.[28] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) There are about a dozen quite widespread varieties hardy enough to survive winter outdoors mostly without special protection. There are even two local varieties, "Martinsfeige" and "Lussheim", which may be the hardiest varieties in the region.[29] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
As the population of California (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) grew, especially after the gold rush (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), a number of other cultivars were brought there by persons and nurserymen from the east coast of the US and from France and England. By the end of the 19th century, it became apparent that California had the potential for being an ideal fig producing state because of its Mediterranean-like climate and latitude of 38 degrees, lining up San Francisco (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) with Smyrna (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Turkey. G. P. Rixford first brought true Smyrna figs to California in 1880. The most popular cultivar of Smyrna-type fig is Calimyrna, being a name that combines "California" and "Smyrna". The cultivar, however, is not one that was produced by a breeding program, and instead is from one of the cuttings brought to California in the latter part of the 19th century. It is identical to the cultivar Lob Injir that has been grown in Turkey for centuries.[20] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Figs can be found in continental climates (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) with hot summers as far north as Hungary (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and Moravia (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Thousands of cultivars (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), most named, have been developed as human migration brought the fig to many places outside its natural range. Fig plants can be propagated (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) by seed or by vegetative (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) methods. Vegetative propagation is quicker and more reliable, as it does not yield the inedible caprifigs. Seeds germinate readily in moist conditions and grow rapidly once established. For vegetative propagation, shoots with buds can be planted in well-watered soil in the spring or summer, or a branch can be scratched to expose the bast (inner bark) and pinned to the ground to allow roots to develop.[30] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Two crops of figs can be produced each year.[31] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) The first or breba (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) crop develops in the spring on last year's shoot growth. The main fig crop develops on the current year's shoot growth and ripens in the late summer or fall. The main crop is generally superior in quantity and quality, but some cultivars such as 'Black Mission', 'Croisic', and 'Ventura' produce good breba crops.
There are three types of edible figs:[32] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Persistent (or common) figs have all female flowers that do not need pollination for fruiting; the fruit can develop through parthenocarpic (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) means. This is a popular horticulture fig for home gardeners. Dottato (Kadota), Black Mission, Brown Turkey, Brunswick, and Celeste are some representative cultivars.
Caducous (or Smyrna) figs require cross pollination by the fig wasp (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) with pollen from caprifigs (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for the fruit to mature. If not pollinated the immature fruits drop. Some cultivars are Marabout, Inchàrio, and Zidi.
Intermediate (or San Pedro) figs set an unpollinated breba crop but need pollination for the later main crop. Examples are Lampeira, King, and San Pedro.
There are dozens of fig cultivars, including main and breba cropping varieties, and an edible caprifig (the Croisic). Varieties are often local, found in a single region of one country.[31] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)[33] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Breeding[edit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
While the fig contains more naturally occurring varieties than any other tree crop, a formal breeding program was not developed until the beginning of the 20th century.[34] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) Ira Condit, "High Priest of the Fig," and William Storey tested some thousands of fig seedlings in the early 20th century based at University of California, Riverside (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).[33] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) It was then continued at the University of California, Davis (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). However, the fig breeding program was ultimately closed in the 1980s.[34] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Due to insect and fungal disease pressure in both dried and fresh figs, the breeding program was revived in 1989 by James Doyle and Louise Ferguson using the germplasm (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) established at UC Riverside by Ira Condit and William Storey. Crosses were made and two new varieties are now in production in California: the public variety "Sierra", and the patented variety "Sequoia".[35] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)