Favorites

My second favorite thing about the fig is that they are simple-appearing, but amazingly complex—very few things about this plant are straightforward.

Its complexity is reflected in the descriptions one encounters when reading the scientific literature about figs. The volume and variety of strange, wonderful terms brings me back to the first year in medical school—a straight-up learning curve to try and wrap your head around.

Plant leaves are boring, except when it’s a fig leaf. A quote from Giordano’s 2020 paper about the fig’s leaf is a case in point. They analyzed leaves with light, confocal laser scanning, and electronic microscopes which revealed “Protective trichomes are located on both [leaf] surfaces while capitate secretive hairs and stomata appear only abaxially.” The fig uses ground-water-absorbed silicate to create a crystalline scaffolding “armor” (assisted by the calcium oxalate inclusions) that strengthen the leaf, protect delicate cells from the sun, and act as defense for hungry insects and herbivores.²

FIGURE 2: The fruit itself is

anatomically a hollow-ended stem that swells

to contain many flowers. (Click to enlarge.)

The fig “fruit” is another example of simple hidden complexity. Although called a fruit, it is actually an infructescence (an urn-like structure lined internally with tiny flowers that develop into multiple ovaries on the inside surface), also known as a false fruit or multiple fruit. The fruit itself is anatomically a hollow-ended stem that swells to contain many flowers. Think of that next time you take a bite! (see Figure 2)

And don’t get me started on how the fig is pollinated in the wild—no fuzzy bumblebee for this plant. Instead, it is a classic example of obligate mutualism, where each type of fig relies on a specific type of fig wasp (Blastophaga psenes) for their mutual survival. A female wasp, attracted to the plant by the odor that the leaves emit, enters the fruiting body with pollen attached to her from her hatchery, fertilizes the internal flowers, and lays her eggs; but it’s a one-way trip, because her wings and antennae are ripped off as she enters the fig’s infructescence due to the narrow entry passage.

She lives out the rest of her days inside the fruit. The eggs hatch and the males mate with their sisters and tunnel out of the fruit; the newly hatched and fertilized females leave through these open tunnels carrying their incubator’s pollen and begin to search for their own fig fruit. Any remaining wasps are digested and absorbed by the fruit using ficin (a special fig-produced wasp dissolvent) for nutrients.