252 A TEXT-BOOK OF BOTANY 
148. Figs.—Perhaps the most remarkable case of an 
intimate relationship between insects and flowers is that 
which exists between a small wasp (Blastophaga) and the 
cultivated fig. The full story is too intricate and variable 
for presentation here, but a very general outline may give 
some little idea of the situation. The flowers of the fig 
are borne in a very peculiar way. What is called a fig is a 
hollow structure (Fig. 247, A), completely closed except 
for a minute open- 
ing at the top, and 
bearing small flow- 
ers in large num- 
bers upon the inner 
wall (Fig. 247, B). 
Figs are diccious, 
so that some trees 
bear only figs with 
staminate flowers 
(Fig. 247, C), and 
others only figs 
with pistillate flow- 
Fic. 247.—The fig: A, branch bearing a fig; B,sec- ers (Fig. 247, D). 
tion of fig showing flowers within; C, staminate 
flower; D, pistillate flower.—After WossIDLo. The fig that has 
been cultivated for 
very many centuries in countries about the Mediterranean 
is the pistillate tree. In order to make it fruit properly, 
fig-bearing branches from staminate trees are hung in the 
pistillate trees. These staminate figs were called “ wild 
figs’ or caprifigs, and the process of placing them on the 
pistillate tree was called caprification. 
Only in recent times has the meaning of this very 
ancient process become known. As the plants are direcious, 
caprification is evidently bringing the staminate flowers 
near enough to the pistillate flowers to secure a transfer of 
the pollen. As both kinds of flowers are enclosed in the fig, 
