Common Fig
Ficus carica · Moraceae · 무화과나무
How to spot it
Characterized by large, rough, palmately 3- to 5-lobed leaves and hollow, pouch-like flower clusters.
Look
- Leaves
- Large leaves are deeply cut into 3 to 5 palmate lobes and rough above.
- Flowers
- Tiny flowers grow inside a hollow flower cluster and cannot be seen from outside.
- Fruit
- The edible fig is the matured pouch-like flower cluster holding many flowers. Color varies by cultivar.
- Bark
- Smooth silver-gray bark that becomes uneven with age.
Where it grows
- Native to
- From the Mediterranean region to Central Asia.
- Ecology
- Wild forms need pollination by fig wasps, but many commercial cultivars develop the edible structure without pollination. Birds and other animals also eat the figs.