Ficus Trees Blooming Overview
Ficus Plant and “Flower” Blooming Information Overview
Unlike your typical flower bloom, the ficus bare a fruit-like structure that is referred to as syconia. These special fruits are actually special structures bearing minute male and female flowers on the inside. The fruit is an almost closed vessel with many small flowers arranged on the inner surface. So really the flowers of the fig would remain hidden unless the fig was cut open (they are inside-out flowers).
The syconia has a bulbous shape with a small opening (ostiole) at the furthest end away from the branch, that allows access to tiny minute fig wasps (pollinators). Without these pollinators, fig trees can’t reproduce by seed.
Fig wasps grow in capri figs (short-style flower) but not in female figs (the female trees’ female flower part is too long for the wasp to successfully lay her eggs in). The minute fig wasps use the fleshy, hollow structures lined on the inside with numerous tiny flowers, almost like little condos. The syconia provide this service for species-specific symbiotic wasp that pollinates the internal female flowers. Giving the next generation of wasps all the necessary nourishment.
There is typically only one species of wasp capable of fertilizing the flowers of each species of fig, and therefore plantings of fig species outside of their native range results in effectively sterile individuals. For example, in Hawaii, some 60 species of figs have been introduced, but only four of the wasps that fertilize them have been introduced, so only four species of figs produce viable seeds there.
Figs are considered a “keystone” species because they are so important to the animals of the rainforests. This is because the figs bear fruit several times a year; different figs fruit at different times so that there is always a supply of food for the animals that depend on fruit as a major part of their diet. In some forests up to 70% of its animal’s diets depend on figs, and the number of fruit-eaters determines the number of predators of fruit-eaters.
Commercial Potential
Because of the loss of crops during the time of transportation; due to such a short shelf life, figs are high-value fruits of limited demand. For shipping, figs are collected daily just before they reach the fully ripe stage. The best place to purchase is direct sale at roadside or farmers markets.
Fig Season
Fig trees usually bear 2 crops a year, the early season (”breba”) fruits being inferior and frequently too acidic (but the animals don’t mind), and only those of the second, or “main” crop, are of actual value.
In Colombia and Venezuela, some fruits are born throughout the year, but as stated before, have 2 principal crops, one in May and June and the other in December and January.
In California; where they produce fig on a Large-scale, they spray ethephon (plant growth regulator) to speed up ripening. They then use wind-machines; drawn past the trees, or helicopter over-flights are made to speed up fruit drop, thus shortening the harvest period by as much as 10 days in order to avoid impending rain and insect attack. Proper timing of the growth regulator is crucial to fruit quality.
Common Fruit Bearing Ficus
- Ficus altissima - yellow fruit; as opposed to red.
- Ficus aurea - small, spherical “fruits” which are eaten by birds.
- Ficus benghalensis - fruit in axillary pairs, the size of a cherry, round and downy.
- Ficus coronata - there is black fruit on the trunk and branches. The fruit is fleshy and edible, and is savored by birds.
- Ficus macrophylla - produces a [barely] edible fruit similar to the common Fig, Ficus carica.
- Ficus microcarpa - Pink to red fruit, very attractive to birds.
- Ficus palmate - The fruits are often sold in local markets in the Himalayas. There is a potential for commercial cultivation.
- Ficus racemosa - Fruits are born in clusters on the branches and trunk, and are edible.
- Ficus religiosa - The Bo-Tree has purple figs.
January 26, 2007
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