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