Body
The fig is a fascinating fruit with a long history of cultivation by people. It is one of the most popular backyard orchard crops in the south and was first brought to the area in the 16th century. Figs were native to Asia Minor, and their ease of propagation and value as a low maintenance food crop made them spread widely throughout the world, first into Greece and other regions of the Mediterranean, as far east as Japan, and throughout the subtropics. California is home to most of the US domestic fig production, featuring many “open eye” cultivars, which refers to the opening at the base of the fruit. Figs are botanically an interesting crop. The “open eye” cultivars rely on a small wasp to pollinate them (Pegoscapus). The fruit is botanically an inverted, inside out branch containing flowers and fruiting bodies. The tiny wasps are almost invisible to the naked eye. The wasps enter through the small eye at the base of the fig to complete their life cycle, shedding their wings and antenna in the narrow passageway into the fruit. The female wasp carries pollen from the fig fruit she hatched inside of and uses this to pollinate the new fig as it forms.
