The amazing thing about figs

This morning Husband said, "The fig tree has lots of fruit on it, but it's strange: I've never seen any flowers."
"How can it produce fruit if it doesn't have flowers?"
He shrugged. "I don't know."

So, while waiting for a radio programme to start so I can the ironing I thought I'd check it out. 

This is what I learned: figs aren't fruit but inverted flowers. Multiple flowers bloom inside the pod that matures into the fruit we eat. How amazing is that? (You probably already knew.)

So how is it pollinated?

By a fig wasp. The fig and the fig wasp have a symbiotic relationship. They can't live without each other, it's called mutualism. 

Now pay attention because it gets complicated. The female wasp buries into the male fig and lays its larva. She's basically digging her own grave because the space is so narrow her wings break off and she can't get out. Male baby wasps don't have wings because their job is to mate with the baby girl wasps (their sisters) and dig a tunnel for them to get out. The female wasps fly out taking pollen with them.

Now if a female wasp buries into a female fig she loses her wings but can't reproduce because there isn't enough room. So she just dies but has deposited the pollen giving us the fruit. 

Apparently we only eat female figs so if you bite into a fig and it's a bit crunchy it could be the remains of a wasp! (Most of it is broken down into protein by an enzyme in the fig.)

I am amazed once again by the things I don't know.