2 Field Museum of Natural History 



even as vines. Two species grow native in the sub- 

 tropical, southern part of Florida. One of them is a 

 so-called "strangling fig." These begin their lives as 

 parasites on other trees, growing at first much like 

 the mistletoe, but eventually sending their own roots 

 to the ground. 



The cultivated fig (Ficus carica) is a native of 

 Semitic Asia, perhaps particularly of southern Arabia, 

 but occurs also in Syria and in Palestine. Smyrna 

 was as famous for its figs in ancient times as it is now. 

 From western Asia the Phoenicians and later the Arabs 

 carried the fig throughout the entire Mediterranean 

 region. The old Greeks scoffed at the barbarians who 

 did not have figs and wine. Romulus and Remus, ac- 

 cording to tradition, were suckled by a she-wolf under 

 a fig tree. In ancient lore the fig occupied a place such 

 as does our more familiar apple tree of the Garden of 

 Eden. Before the appearance of man, figs grew in 

 Europe and in North America. Leaves and fruits like 

 those of the cultivated fig have been found fossil in 

 France. With the Glacial Period the fig of course dis- 

 appeared from the modern temperate zone those 

 which now grow in Europe were all introduced horti- 

 culturally. Figs have long been grown in China, hav- 

 ing been brought by way of Persia from Asia Minor. 

 In modern times the cultivated fig has been introduced 

 into many lands. It is grown in South and Southwest 

 Africa, in South America, and in Australia. It has 

 been grown in Sussex in England. It is successfully 

 cultivated in the United States, especially in California 

 and in the Gulf Region, particularly in Texas. In 

 African Sudan where the fig has failed to grow on its 

 < iwn roots, it has been grown budded on the more trop- 

 ical sycamore fig. 



The cultivated fig is ordinarily a rapidly growing 

 small tree with palmately lobed leaves and with a soft 



[2] 



