The fig is the edible fruit of Ficus carica (the common fig), a species of tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Moraceae, native to the Mediterranean region, and to western and southern Asia. It has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world.The Fig: its History, Culture, and Curing, Gustavus A. Eisen, Washington, Govt. print. off., 1901 Ficus carica is the type species of the genus Ficus, which comprises over 800 tropical and subtropical plant species.
The fig plant is a deciduous tree or large shrub, growing up to tall, with smooth white bark. Its large leaves have three to five deep lobes. Its fruit (a syconium) is teardrop-shaped, long, initially green but may ripen toward purple or brown, and has sweet soft reddish flesh containing numerous small seeds. In the Northern Hemisphere, fresh figs are in season from early August to early October. They tolerate moderate seasonal drought and can be grown even in hot-summer continental climates.
In 2020, world production of raw figs was 1.26 million tonnes, led by Turkey (with 25% of the world total), Egypt, Morocco, and Algeria, collectively accounting for 62% of the total. Although the milky sap of the green parts of the plant is an irritant to human skin, figs can be eaten fresh or dried. They are also processed into jam, rolls, biscuits, and other types of desserts. Since ripe fresh figs are easily damaged in transport and do not keep well, most commercial production is in dried and processed forms. Raw figs contain roughly 80% water and 20% carbohydrates, with negligible protein, fat, and micronutrient content. They are a moderate source of dietary fiber.
Etymology
The word fig, first recorded in English in the 13th century, derives from Old French , itself from Occitan (Old Provençal) figa, from Romance *fica, from Classical Latin (fig or fig-tree). The Latin word along with Armenian t'uz and Greek σῦκον sycon (Boeotian τῦκον tukon) most likely all derive from a single source *tʰuōiḱo- or *tʰū(i)ḱo- in the Mediterranean region, perhaps in a Semitic language. The name of the caprifig, Ficus caprificus Risso, is derived both from Latin , genitive (he-goat) and English fig.Condit, Ira J. (1947) The Fig; Chronica Botanica Co., Waltham, Massachusetts, USA.
Description
Ficus carica is a gynodioecious, deciduous tree or large shrub that grows up to tall, with smooth white bark. Its fragrant leaves are some long and wide, rough, and deeply lobed (three or five lobes).
The fig fruit develops as a hollow, fleshy structure called the syconium that is lined with numerous unisexual flowers. The tiny flowers bloom out of sight inside this structure. Although commonly called a fruit, the syconium is botanically an infructescence, containing multiple fruits. The small fig flowers and later small single-seeded (true) fruits line its interior surface. A small opening or ostiole, at the apex of the fruit, is a narrow passage that allows the specialized fig wasp, Blastophaga psenes, to enter and pollinate the flowers. Each fertilized ovule (one per flower, in its ovary) develops into a small, single-seeded fruit, (a drupelet).Wayne's Word: Sex Determination & Life Cycle in Ficus carica At maturity, these 'seeds' (single-seeded fruits) line the inside of the fig, a false fruit. The mature fig is long, with a green skin that sometimes ripens toward purple or brown. The tree has milky sap, produced by laticifer cells.
Chemistry Figs contain diverse phytochemicals under basic research for their potential biological properties, including polyphenols, such as gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, syringic acid, (+)-catechin, (−)-epicatechin and rutin.Vinson (1999) Fig color may vary between cultivars due to various concentrations of anthocyanins, with cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside having particularly high content.
Distribution and habitat
The fig has been cultivated since ancient times and grows wild in dry and sunny locations with deep and fresh soil, and in rocky locations that are at sea level to in elevation. It prefers relatively porous and freely draining soil, and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. Unlike other fig species, F. carica does not always require pollination by a wasp or from another tree,Shannon Wolfe, "Carnivorous Figs: The Relationship Between Wasps and Figs ", University of California Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County, 27 August 2014.Ferguson, Louise; Crisosto, Carlos H. "The Fig: Overview of an Ancient Fruit ", in HortScience, August 2007, Vol. 42, No. 5, pages 1083–1087. but can be pollinated by the fig wasp, Blastophaga psenes, to produce seeds. Fig wasps are not present to pollinate in colder regions such as the British Isles.
The species is naturalized in scattered locations in Asia and North America. The mountain or rock fig () is a wild variety, tolerant of cold dry climates, of the semi-arid rocky montane regions of Iran, especially in the Kūhestān mountains of Khorasan.
Cultivation
Historical cultivation
The edible fig is probably the first plant to have been cultivated by humans. Nine subfossil figs of a parthenocarpic (and therefore sterile) type dating to about 9400–9200 BC were found in the early Neolithic village Gilgal I (in the Jordan Valley, north of Jericho). The find precedes the domestication of wheat, barley, and legumes, 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).
In ancient Israel, figs were a staple crop and widely cultivated for both fresh consumption and preservation. Archaeological evidence from sites such as Tel Beit Shemesh reveals that pressed figs were stored in jars. Fig trees thrived in the region's dry, rocky soil and yielded two annual harvests: an early crop eaten fresh, and a later summer crop (qayiṣ) that was dried or pressed into fig-cakes for preservation and travel. Fig trees are frequently mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and are depicted in the Lachish reliefs alongside grapevines and date palms, confirming their place in the cultivated landscape of Judah.
Figs were widespread in ancient Greece, and their cultivation was described by both Aristotle and Theophrastus. 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); 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 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.
Figs were also a common food source for the Romans. Cato the Elder, in his De Agri Cultura, lists several strains of figs grown at the time he wrote his handbook: the Mariscan, African, Herculanean, Saguntine, and the black Tellanian. The fruits were used, among other things, to fatten geese for the production of a precursor of foie gras. Rome's first emperor, Augustus, was reputed to have been poisoned with figs from his garden smeared with poison by his wife Livia. For this reason, or perhaps because of her horticultural expertise, a variety of fig known as the Liviana was cultivated in Roman gardens.
It was cultivated from Afghanistan to Portugal, also grown in Pithoragarh in the Kumaon hills of India. From the 15th century onwards, it was grown in areas including Northern Europe and the New World. In 1769, Spanish missionaries led by Junipero Serra brought the first figs to California. The Mission variety, which they cultivated, is still popular.Roeding, George C. (1903) The Smyrna Fig: At Home and Abroad; published by the author, Fresno, California The Kadota cultivar is even older, being mentioned by the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder in the 1st century AD.Storey, W.B, Enderud, J.E., Saleeb, W.F., & Mauer, E.M. (1977) The Fig, Ficus carica Linnaeus: Its Biology, History, Culture, and Utilization, Vol. 13 #2,3,4; Jurupa Mountains Cultural Center, Riverside, CA, USA Pliny recorded thirty varieties of figs.
Modern cultivation
The common fig is grown for its edible fruit throughout the temperate world. It is also grown as an ornamental tree, and in the UK the cultivars 'Brown Turkey' and 'Ice Crystal' (mainly grown for its unusual foliage) have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Figs are grown in Germany, mainly in private gardens inside built-up areas. There is no commercial fig growing.Die Feigenernte in Kraichgau und Pfalz läuft auf Hochtouren (English: The fig harvest in Kraichgau and the Palatinate is in full swing) at Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung. The Palatine region in the German South West has an estimated 80,000 fig trees.Christoph Seiler: Feigen aus dem eigenen Garten (English: Figs from your own garden), Stuttgart 2016, page 64. 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.Christoph Seiler: Feigen aus dem eigenen Garten. Stuttgart 2016, pages 75 and 78.
As the population of California grew, especially after the gold rush, 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 with İzmir, Turkey. G. P. Rixford first brought true Smyrna figs to California in 1880. The most popular cultivar of Smyrna-type fig in California is the Turkish Lob Injir, sold under the name (combining "California" and "Smyrna"), which has been grown in Turkey for centuries and was brought to California in the latter part of the 19th century.
Figs can be found in continental climates with hot summers as far north as Hungary and Moravia. Thousands of cultivars, most named, have been developed as human migration brought the fig to many places outside its natural range. Fig plants can be propagated by seed or by vegetative 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.
Two crops can be produced each year. The first or breba crop develops in the spring on last year's shoot growth. The main crop develops on the current year's shoot growth and ripens in the late summer or fall.
There are three types of edible figs:
Persistent (or common) figs have all female flowers that do not need pollination for fruiting; the fruit can develop through parthenocarpy. 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 with pollen from caprifigs for the fruit to mature. If not pollinated, the immature fruits drop. Cultivars include Marabout, Inchàrio, and Zidi.