Ficus carica is an Asian species of flowering plant (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in the mulberry family (Si apre in una nuova finestra), 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) to the Mediterranean (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and western Asia (Si apre in una nuova finestra), 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).[3] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)[4] (Si apre in una nuova finestra) The species has become naturalized in scattered locations in Asia and North America.
Etymology[edit (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) ficus (fig or fig-tree).[7] (Si apre in una nuova finestra) Italian has fico, directly derived from Latin ficus. The name of the caprifig, Ficus caprificus Risso, is derived both from Latin capro (billygoat (Si apre in una nuova finestra)) and English fig.[8] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Biology[edit (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
Description[edit (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
Ficus carica is a gynodioecious (Si apre in una nuova finestra), deciduous (Si apre in una nuova finestra) tree (Si apre in una nuova finestra) or large shrub (Si apre in una nuova finestra) that grows up to 7–10 metres (23–33 ft) tall, with smooth white bark (Si apre in una nuova finestra). 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) that is lined internally with numerous unisexual (Si apre in una nuova finestra) flowers. The tiny flowers bloom inside this cup-like structure. Although commonly called a fruit, the syconium is botanically an infructescence (Si apre in una nuova finestra), a type of multiple fruit (Si apre in una nuova finestra). The small fig flowers and later small single-seeded (true) fruits line its interior surface. A small opening or ostiole (Si apre in una nuova finestra), visible on the middle of the fruit, is a narrow passage that allows the specialized fig wasp (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Blastophaga psenes (Si apre in una nuova finestra) to enter the inflorescence and pollinate the flowers, after which each fertilized ovule (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (one per flower, in its ovary (Si apre in una nuova finestra)) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
The edible mature syconium (Si apre in una nuova finestra) stem develops into a fleshy false fruit (Si apre in una nuova finestra) bearing the numerous one-seeded fruits, which are technically druplets (Si apre in una nuova finestra).[9] (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) cells. The sap (Si apre in una nuova finestra) of the green parts is an irritant (Si apre in una nuova finestra) to human skin.[10] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Habitat[edit (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
Mountain fig tree in Zibad (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
The common fig tree has been cultivated since ancient times (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)[12] (Si apre in una nuova finestra) but can be pollinated by the fig wasp (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Blastophaga psenes (Si apre in una nuova finestra) to produce seeds. Fig wasps are not present to pollinate in colder nations, e. g. the United Kingdom (Si apre in una nuova finestra).[13] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Bud (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Leaves and immature fruit
Figs in various stages of ripening
The plant tolerates seasonal (Si apre in una nuova finestra) drought, and the Middle Eastern (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and Mediterranean climates (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) plant (Si apre in una nuova finestra)searches for groundwater (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in aquifers (Si apre in una nuova finestra), ravines (Si apre in una nuova finestra), 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra)) is a wild variety, tolerant of cold dry climates, of the semi-arid rocky montane regions of Iran (Si apre in una nuova finestra), especially in the Kohestan Mountains of Khorasan (Si apre in una nuova finestra).[10] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Ecology[edit (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is pollinated (Si apre in una nuova finestra) by a symbiosis (Si apre in una nuova finestra) with a fig wasp (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (Blastophaga psenes (Si apre in una nuova finestra)). The fertilized female wasp enters the fig through the scion (Si apre in una nuova finestra), which has a tiny hole in the crown (the ostiole). She crawls on the inflorescence (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra), 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] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Cultivation[edit (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
From ancient times[edit (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
"Schiocca": Calabrian (Si apre in una nuova finestra) dried figs
Further information: Domestication of Ficus carica (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
The edible fig is one of the first plants that were cultivated by humans. Nine subfossil (Si apre in una nuova finestra) figs of a parthenocarpic (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (and therefore sterile) type dating to about 9400–9200 BC were found in the early Neolithic (Si apre in una nuova finestra) village Gilgal I (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (in the Jordan Valley (Si apre in una nuova finestra), 13 km north of Jericho). The find precedes the domestication of wheat (Si apre in una nuova finestra), barley (Si apre in una nuova finestra), and legumes (Si apre in una nuova finestra), 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra)).[14] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Figs were widespread in ancient Greece (Si apre in una nuova finestra), and their cultivation was described by both Aristotle (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and Theophrastus (Si apre in una nuova finestra). 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra)); 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Figs were also a common food source for the Romans (Si apre in una nuova finestra). Cato the Elder (Si apre in una nuova finestra), in his c. 160 BC De Agri Cultura (Si apre in una nuova finestra), 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra). Rome's first emperor (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Augustus (Si apre in una nuova finestra), was reputed to have been poisoned with figs from his garden smeared with poison by his wife Livia (Si apre in una nuova finestra).[16] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)[17] (Si apre in una nuova finestra) For this reason, or perhaps because of her horticultural expertise, a variety of fig known as the Liviana was cultivated in Roman gardens.[18] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
It was cultivated from Afghanistan (Si apre in una nuova finestra) to Portugal (Si apre in una nuova finestra), also grown in Pithoragarh (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in the Kumaon (Si apre in una nuova finestra) hills of India (Si apre in una nuova finestra). From the 15th century onwards, it was grown in areas including Northern Europe (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and the New World (Si apre in una nuova finestra).[3] (Si apre in una nuova finestra) In the 16th century, Cardinal Reginald Pole (Si apre in una nuova finestra) introduced fig trees to Lambeth Palace (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in London.
In 1769, Spanish missionaries led by Junipero Serra (Si apre in una nuova finestra) brought the first figs to California. The Mission (Si apre in una nuova finestra) variety, which they cultivated, is still popular.[19] (Si apre in una nuova finestra) The fact that it is parthenocarpic (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (self-pollinating) made it an ideal cultivar for introduction.
The Kadota cultivar (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is even older, being mentioned by the Roman naturalist Pliny in the 1st century A.D.[20] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Overwintering[edit (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
People of the Italian diaspora (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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] (Si apre in una nuova finestra) Italian immigrants in the 19th century introduced this common practice in cities such as New York (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Philadelphia (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Boston (Si apre in una nuova finestra), and Toronto (Si apre in una nuova finestra), where winters are normally too cold to leave the tree exposed.[22] (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and fungus (Si apre in una nuova finestra), then covered with a heavy layer of soil and leaves. Sometimes plywood or corrugated metal is placed on top to secure the tree.[23] (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Modern[edit (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
Variegated fig
Fresh figs
The common fig is grown for its edible fruit (Si apre in una nuova finestra) throughout the temperate (Si apre in una nuova finestra) world. It is also grown as an ornamental tree, and in the UK (Si apre in una nuova finestra) the cultivars (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 'Brown Turkey'[24] (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and ‘Ice Crystal’ (mainly grown for its unusual foliage)[25] (Si apre in una nuova finestra) have gained the Royal Horticultural Society (Si apre in una nuova finestra)'s Award of Garden Merit (Si apre in una nuova finestra).[26] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Figs are also grown in Germany (Si apre in una nuova finestra), mainly in private gardens inside built up areas. There is no commercial fig growing.[27] (Si apre in una nuova finestra) The Palatine region (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in the German South West has an estimated 80,000 fig trees. The variety Brown Turkey is the most widespread in the region.[28] (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
As the population of California (Si apre in una nuova finestra) grew, especially after the gold rush (Si apre in una nuova finestra), 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) with Smyrna (Si apre in una nuova finestra), 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] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Figs can be found in continental climates (Si apre in una nuova finestra) with hot summers as far north as Hungary (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and Moravia (Si apre in una nuova finestra). Thousands of cultivars (Si apre in una nuova finestra), most named, have been developed as human migration brought the fig to many places outside its natural range. Fig plants can be propagated (Si apre in una nuova finestra) by seed or by vegetative (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Two crops of figs can be produced each year.[31] (Si apre in una nuova finestra) The first or breba (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Persistent (or common) figs have all female flowers that do not need pollination for fruiting; the fruit can develop through parthenocarpic (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) with pollen from caprifigs (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)[33] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Breeding[edit (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
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] (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).[33] (Si apre in una nuova finestra) It was then continued at the University of California, Davis (Si apre in una nuova finestra). However, the fig breeding program was ultimately closed in the 1980s.[34] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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] (Si apre in una nuova finestra)