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• Ficus carica

Ficus carica — common fig

Facts

Common fig is a shrub with fuzzy twigs and sandpapery, lobed leaves which is widely cultivated in the south and has escaped a few gardens in Massachusetts. Its fleshy fruits are edible. Figs have a very unusual pollination scheme. Their flowers are actually produced inside the package (syconium) we think of as the "fig." Tiny wasps live inside the syconium and lay their eggs there, incidentally transferring pollen from flowers of one syconium to another. When the eggs hatch, the flightless males mate with the females, and chew a hole through the syconium through which the females escape to fly to another syconium and carry on the cycle. Don't worry, though; you're unlikely to swallow a wasp when you eat a fig; they will have flown the coop by the time the "fig" is ripe.

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats)

Characteristics

• Buds or leaf scars

  Bud scale number

  there are no scales on the winter buds

  Bud scar shape (Fraxinus)

  NA

  Collateral buds

  there are no collateral buds on the sides of the branches

  Superposed buds

  there are no superposed buds on the branch

  Winter bud scale hairs

  NA

  Winter bud scales

  the winter bud is naked (not covered with scales)

• Flowers

  Carpels fused

  the carpels are fused to one another

  Enlarged sterile flowers

  there are no enlarged sterile flowers on the plant

  Flower petal color

  NA

  Flower symmetry

  there are two or more ways to evenly divide the flower (the flower is radially symmetrical)

  Hairs on ovary (Amelanchier)

  NA

  Hypanthium present

  the flower does not have a hypanthium

  Inflorescence type

  • the flowers grow out of the axil (point where a branch or leaf is attached to the main stem)
  • the inflorescence differs from the choices given

  Number of pistils

  1

  Petal and sepal arrangement

  the flower includes only one cycle of petals or sepals

  Petal appearance

  NA

  Petal fusion

  NA

  Sepal cilia (Ilex)

  NA

  Stamen number

  1 or 2

• Fruits or seeds

  Berry color

  NA

  Fruit tissue origin

  there are no flower parts that form part of the fruit

  Fruit type (general)

  the fruit is fleshy

  Fruit type (specific)

  the fruit is a multiple (composed of two or more ovaries from separate flowers)

  Nut with spines (Fagaceae)

  NA

  Wings on fruit

  there are no wings on the fruit

• Glands or sap

  Sap color

  the sap is thick and colored

  Stalked glands on fruit (Rosa)

  NA

• Growth form

  Growth form

  • the plant is a shrub (i.e., a woody plant with several stems growing from the base)
  • the plant is a tree

• Leaves

  Hairs on upper side of leaf blade

  the upper side of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy

  Leaf blade base shape

  The base of the leaf blade is cordate (heart-shaped, with rounded lobes)

  Leaf blade edges

  the edge of the leaf blade has lobes, or it has both teeth and lobes

  Leaf blade edges (Acer)

  NA

  Leaf blade hairs

  the hairs on the leaf blade are different from the choices given

  Leaf blade length

  150–300 mm

  Leaf blade shape

  • the leaf blade is obovate (egg-shaped, but with the widest point above the middle of the leaf blade)
  • the leaf blade is orbicular (roughly circular, as wide as long)
  • the leaf blade is ovate (widest below the middle and broadly tapering at both ends)

  Leaf blade width

  150–300 mm

  Leaf duration

  the leaves drop off in winter (or they wither but persist on the plant)

  Leaf lobe tips (Quercus)

  NA

  Leaf stalk

  the leaves have leaf stalks

  Leaf stalk nectaries

  there are no nectaries on the leaf stalk

  Leaf teeth

  • the leaf blade margin is serrate (with forward-pointing) or dentate (with outward-pointing) with medium-sized to coarse teeth
  • the leaf blade margin is undulate (wavy), but does not have teeth

  Leaf teeth hairs (Carya)

  NA

  Leaf type

  the leaf blade is simple (i.e., lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets)

  Leaves per node

  there is one leaf per node along the stem

  Specific leaf type

  the leaves are simple (i.e., lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  Massachusetts

  Specific habitat

  man-made or disturbed habitats

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Aerial roots

  the plant has no aerial roots

  Bark texture

  the bark of an adult plant is thin and smooth

  Branch brittleness (willows only)

  NA

  Branch cross-section

  the branch is circular in cross-section, or it has five or more sides, so that there are no sharp angles

  First-year cane (Rubus)

  NA

  Twig papillae (Vaccinium species only)

  NA

  Twig winter color

  • brown
  • gray

  Wings on branch

  the branch does not have wings on it

  armature on plant

  the plant does not have spines, prickles, or thorns

Wetland status

Occurs only in non-wetlands. (Wetland indicator code: UPL)

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae