Ficus carica
Common Fig
Moraceae
August to following summer
The garden plant is found throughout the country
The naturalised plant is scattered throughout, but is more
common in the South, the Northwest and the Southwest.
See the BSBI distribution map for Fig
It is a neophyte which was introduced from the
Mediterranean region in the late 990s and grown in UK
gardens for fruit.
It has been growning in the wild as a naturalised
escape since the late 1910s and is found on disturbed
waste ground, brown-field sites, walls and cliffs, in
churchyards and by railways and rivers.
It grows at several points along the Jurassic coast
in Dorset.
Fig is a spreading, deciduous shrub or tree, growing
up to 10m.
The flower-structure starts off as a small swelling
in August and
increases in size until the following summer.
This fleshy structure (syconium) is hollow and is
lined with either male or female flowers. A syconium
has a small opening, which allows the Fig Wasp,
Blastophaga psenes. to enter and pollinate the flowers.
The female flowers develop into seeds, which are
the gritty bits of the fig fruit. It is classed as a false fruit.
The fruit may remain green or turn purple.
The naturalized figs in the UK are escapes from
cultivation and are presumably self-pollinating, and
do not require the services of a Fig Wasp.
For more details click on this link.
Leaves are 3-5 lobed, green and large (up to 18cm).
Stems and trunks are pale and smooth and in winter,
look dead.
Previous page: Dog Vomit Slime Mould
Next page: Frosted Orache
Fig in fruit in hedge, St. Marys, Isle of Scilly
3-week old syconium, Dorset
Opening in syconium
4-month old syconia
Section through 4-month old syconium
Close-up of female flowers lining the syconium
11 month old syconium
Fig leaf
Fig stems in winter, Abbotsbury, Dorset
Fig stems and leaves in July, Abbotsbury
Ripe fig fruit
Section through ripe fruit
© Copyright 2004-2025 - CMS Made Simple
This site is powered by CMS Made Simple version 1.11.9