BIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF FIGS. 913 



their prime and receptive at a time when the pollen of the 

 profichi is ripe. The pollen in the profichi is very abun- 

 dant, of a pale yellow color, resembling a flowery yellow 

 powder, which may easily be shaken out and collected 

 without injury to its vital qualities. 



The above refers only to the caprifig, or, if we wish to 

 be more distinct yet, to the male tree of the caprifig. The 

 edible fig, as cultivated in our orchards, does not possess 

 any male flowers (26) except in extremely rare cases, as 

 will be mentioned below. 



The anthers in the male flowers are not always prop- 

 erly developed. This is especially the case in seedlings 

 raised from Smyrna fig seeds, which originated from a 

 pollination with the caprifig. Such seedlings do not all 

 possess male flowers, those that do are more or less similar 

 to the caprifig flowers, the anthers frequently being as 

 well developed as in the real wild fig (27). 



Female Flozvers. — In the common caprifig female flowers 

 have been found with certainty only in the third crop or 

 mammoni. In this crop alone have fertile seeds been found, 

 but always in very small quantities ; hardly more than one 

 fertile seed in every fig (47). In the edible figs perfect 

 female flowers capable of producing developed embryos 

 are more common. Generally it has been supposed that 

 all flowers found in the edible figs were female flowers 

 capable of producing fertile seeds. But this is undoubt- 

 edly not the case. All flowers of the edible figs in a 

 general way resemble the female flowers, but, as I will 

 shortly demonstrate, they are not all alike, and they diiier 

 in the various crops and in different varieties. 



In the second crop of the genuine Smyrna figs nearly 

 all flowers are perfectly developed female flowers, which 

 only require pollination in order to bring fertile seed. This 

 appears also to be the case in San Pedro and other figs,, 



2d See., Vol. V. ( 59 ) January 11, 1896. 



