Fig, fig tree, wine berry –
It grows wildly or semi-wildly in the USSR (Crimea, Transcaucasia, Central Asia – the mountains of Turkmenistan, Pamir-Alai), the Mediterranean, Asia Minor and further from Iran to Northwestern India. Cultivated everywhere in the subtropics and tropics (a very ancient culture).
A tree with light gray smooth bark, with lactiferous tubes in all organs. The leaves are alternate, large, lobed with palmate nerve venation. Inflorescence of a special type: the receptacle develops strongly and grows into a hollow bulb-shaped formation with a hole at the top; flowers are located inside it along the walls. Inflorescences are different. On some trees, small inflorescences develop – “caprifigs”, where near the entrance to the inflorescence there are numerous normally developed staminate flowers that give a lot of pollen; on the expanded bottom of the inflorescence are pistillate flowers with a short column. Very small wasps (blastophages) – pollinators – penetrate into caprifigs; they lay an ovipositor in each pistillate flower and die. The larvae develop in the ovules and, upon the onset of maturity, gnaw through it, get out. Wingless males die after fertilization, and winged females fly out of the inflorescence, carrying pollen with them. They fly to neighboring trees, where by this time another type of inflorescence, the “fig”, has managed to bloom. The figs are the same flask-shaped hollow receptacle, but inside it the staminate flowers are reduced to scales, and the pistillate ones are well developed and have long columns. The flying wasps cannot get into the long-columnar flowers with their ovipositor and, after shedding pollen, they fly to other figs, pollinating them, until they land on caprifigs with short-columnar flowers. Caprifigs bloom a second time in autumn and the wasps overwinter in them. The infructescence develops only from the inflorescence of the fig type; with all this, pistillate flowers develop into small nuts, and the receptacle grows strongly, takes a pear-shaped shape, becomes juicy and sweet. They fly to neighboring trees, where by this time another type of inflorescence, the “fig”, has managed to bloom. The figs are the same flask-shaped hollow receptacle, but inside it the staminate flowers are reduced to scales, and the pistillate ones are well developed and have long columns. The flying wasps cannot get into the long-columnar flowers with their ovipositor and, after shedding pollen, they fly to other figs, pollinating them, until they land on caprifigs with short-columnar flowers. Caprifigs bloom a second time in autumn and the wasps overwinter in them. The infructescence develops only from the inflorescence of the fig type; with all this, pistillate flowers develop into small nuts, and the receptacle grows strongly, takes a pear-shaped shape, becomes juicy and sweet. They fly to neighboring trees, where by this time another type of inflorescence, the “fig”, has managed to bloom. The figs are the same flask-shaped hollow receptacle, but inside it the staminate flowers are reduced to scales, and the pistillate ones are well developed and have long columns. The flying wasps cannot get into the long-columnar flowers with their ovipositor and, after shedding pollen, they fly to other figs, pollinating them, until they land on caprifigs with short-columnar flowers. Caprifigs bloom a second time in autumn and the wasps overwinter in them. The infructescence develops only from the inflorescence of the fig type; with all this, pistillate flowers develop into small nuts, and the receptacle grows strongly, takes a pear-shaped shape, becomes juicy and sweet. The figs are the same flask-shaped hollow receptacle, but inside it the staminate flowers are reduced to scales, and the pistillate ones are well developed and have long columns. The flying wasps cannot get into the long-columnar flowers with their ovipositor and, after shedding pollen, they fly to other figs, pollinating them, until they land on caprifigs with short-columnar flowers. Caprifigs bloom a second time in autumn and the wasps overwinter in them. The infructescence develops only from the inflorescence of the fig type; with all this, pistillate flowers develop into small nuts, and the receptacle grows strongly, takes a pear-shaped shape, becomes juicy and sweet. The figs are the same flask-shaped hollow receptacle, but inside it the staminate flowers are reduced to scales, and the pistillate ones are well developed and have long columns. The flying wasps cannot get into the long-columnar flowers with their ovipositor and, after shedding pollen, they fly to other figs, pollinating them, until they land on caprifigs with short-columnar flowers. Caprifigs bloom a second time in autumn and the wasps overwinter in them. The infructescence develops only from the inflorescence of the fig type; with all this, pistillate flowers develop into small nuts, and the receptacle grows strongly, takes a pear-shaped shape, becomes juicy and sweet. after shedding pollen, they fly to other figs, pollinating them until they land on caprifigs with short columnar flowers. Caprifigs bloom a second time in autumn and the wasps overwinter in them. The infructescence develops only from the inflorescence of the fig type; with all this, pistillate flowers develop into small nuts, and the receptacle grows strongly, takes a pear-shaped shape, becomes juicy and sweet. after shedding pollen, they fly to other figs, pollinating them until they land on caprifigs with short columnar flowers. Caprifigs bloom a second time in autumn and the wasps overwinter in them. The infructescence develops only from the inflorescence of the fig type; with all this, pistillate flowers develop into small nuts, and the receptacle grows strongly, takes a pear-shaped shape, becomes juicy and sweet.
Dried fruits contain up to 75% sugars, mainly glucose and fructose, 5-6% pectin and up to 1% organic acids. The content of sugars and acids is influenced by the variety of figs, the conditions of the year and the maturity stage of the fruit.
For medicinal purposes, fig syrup is used as a mild laxative, especially in children’s practice. In folk medicine, an infusion is prepared from figs for gargling (for coughs and bronchitis).
The plant belongs to sugar, contains carbohydrates.
SUGAR PLANTS
Sugar plants are understood as plants in which large amounts of monosaccharides (glucose, fructose) and sucrose accumulate.