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The 'Common Fig' (''Ficus carica'') is a large, deciduous, shrub or small tree native to southwest Asia and the eastern Mediterranean region (Greece east to Afghanistan).

Contents

Description

Cultivation and uses

Cultural & literary aspects

Production trends

Picture gallery

Notes and references

External link

Description

It grows to a height of 3-10 m tall, with smooth grey bark.
The leaves are 12-25 cm long and 10-18 cm across, and deeply lobed with three or five lobes.
The fruit is the well-known fig, 3-5 cm long, with a green skin sometimes ripening towards purple. The sap of the tree's green parts is an irritant to human skin.

Cultivation and uses

The Common Fig is widely grown for its edible fruit throughout its natural range and also in the rest of the Mediterranean region and other areas of the world with a similar climate, including Australia, Chile, South Africa, and California, Oregon, Texas, and Washington in the United States.
The edible fig is one of the first plants that were cultivated by humans. An article in ''Science'' stated that nine fossilized figs dating to about 9400-9200 BC were found in the early Neolithic village Gilgal I in the Jordan Valley. As the figs were of the parthenocarpic type, they are of an early domestic breed. The find predates the domestication of wheat, barley and legumes, and may thus be the first known instance of agriculture.Fig fossil clue to early farming, BBC News, 2 June 2006 Thousands of cultivars, most unnamed, have been developed or come into existence as human migration brought the fig to many places outside its natural range. It has been an important food crop for thousands of years, and was also thought to be highly beneficial in the diet.
Figs can be eaten fresh or dried, and used in jam-making. Most commercial production is in dried or otherwise processed forms, since the ripe fruit does not transport well, and once picked does not keep well. In Bengal, the fruit is called ''Dumur''. It is cooked as a vegetable and is believed to be good for heart ailments.
'Propagation :' The flower is invisible, as it blooms inside the fruit. The small orifice visible on the middle fruit is a narrow passage, which allows a very specialised wasp, called Fig wasp) to enter the fruit & pollinate the flower, whereafter the fruit grows seeds.

Cultural & literary aspects

In the book of Genesis in the Bible, Adam and Eve clad themselves with fig leaves after eating the "Forbidden fruit" from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Likewise, fig leaves, or depictions of fig leaves, have long been used to cover the genitals of nude figures in painting and sculpture. Often these fig leaves were added by art collectors or exhibitors long after the original work was completed.
The use of the fig leaf as a protector of modesty or shield of some kind has entered the language.
The biblical quote "each man under his own vine and fig tree" (1 Kings 4:25) has been used to denote peace and prosperity. It was commonly quoted to refer to the life that would be led by settlers in the American West, and was used by Theodor Herzl in his depiction of the future Jewish Homeland. .Fig trees are also mentioned in Qur'an in many places.
Since the flower is invisible, there is a Bengali proverb : ''tumi jeno dumurer phool hoe gele'' = you have become (invisible like) the dumur flower. The derisive English idiom ''I don't care a fig'' probably originates from the abundance of this fruit.
In Greek mythology the god Apollo sends a crow to collect water from a stream for him. the crow sees a fig tree and waits for the figs to ripen, tempted by the fruit. He knows that he is late and that his tardiness will be punished so he gets a snake from the stream and collects the water. He presents Apollo with the water and uses the snake as an excuse. Apollo sees through the crow's lie and throws the crow, goblet, and snake into the sky where they supposedly make the constellations Hydra (constellation), Crater (constellation) and Corvus (constellation).

Production trends

FAO reports that Turkey was the top fig producer in 2005 followed by Egypt and other Mediterranean countries.

Picture gallery

Notes and references

External link

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