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Fig trees either produce hermaphrodite fruit or female figs; only the female figs are palatable to humans. In exchange for a safe place for their eggs and larvae, fig wasps help pollinate the ficus by crawling inside the tiny hole in the apex of the fig, called the ostiole, without knowing whether they crawled into a caprifig or a fig.
Caducous (or Smyrna) figs require cross pollination by the fig wasp with pollen from caprifigs for the fruit to mature. If not pollinated the immature fruits drop. Some cultivars are Marabout, Inchàrio, and Zidi. Intermediate (or San Pedro) figs set an unpollinated breba crop but need pollination for the later main crop.
The non-pollinators belong to several groups within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, while the pollinators are in the family Agaonidae. Pollinating fig wasps are all gall -makers, non-pollinating fig wasps either make their own galls or usurp the galls of other fig wasps; reports of their being parasitoids are considered dubious.
Without the tiny bugs, the Ficus species, the producer of figs, would go extinct. You’ve probably heard rumors about figs being filled with small wasps. Without the tiny bugs, the Ficus species ...
Ficus (/ ˈ f aɪ k ə s / [2] or / ˈ f iː k ə s / [3] [4]) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae.Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone.
[citation needed] Pollination of F. benjamina only occurs with a specific type of wasp that live symbiotically together. [9] The ripe figs (collective fruit) are orange-red and have a diameter of 2.0 to 2.5 cm (3 ⁄ 4 to 1 inch). [citation needed] The tree is treated as an ornamental bush and indoor plant in many places.
The ability to produce seedless fruit when pollination is unsuccessful may be an advantage to a plant because it provides food for the plant's seed dispersers. Without a fruit crop, the seed dispersing animals may starve or migrate. In some plants, pollination or another stimulation is required for parthenocarpy, termed stimulative parthenocarpy.
Smyrna figs need to be pollinated by a fig wasp, in contrast to more domesticated forms of Ficus carica such as 'Brown Turkey', which can form figs without pollination (parthenogenetically). Figs and fig wasps have had a symbiotic relationship throughout history. [8] The fig wasps need the figs in order to reproduce, while the figs rely on the ...