Figs and fig wasps

Abstract

What are figs and fig wasps? Figs are plants in the genus Ficus, which have a unique closed inflorescence called a syconium, typically containing hundreds of flowers. We eat the ripe syconia of one species, F. carica, and call these ‘pseudofruits’ figs too. There are about 750 fig species worldwide, mostly in the tropics, where dramatic ‘strangler’ figs are found. These start life as epiphytes on other trees and then drop aerial roots that slowly smother and kill their host. Figs have an obligate mutualism with tiny fig-pollinating wasps (family Agaonidae).