THE FIG. 



271 



Gesner, in his "Horti Germa 

 niae", enumerated the Fi 

 amon^r the plants cultivated 

 in Germany, and added that 

 in tlie garden at Strassburg- 

 it bore ripe ilgs in 

 its second -s'ear. 



Figs are com- 

 monl}' supposed to be 

 single fruits and the 

 grains inside them seeds. But 

 as a matter of fact the lig is a singular 

 and very complicated structure. Tliis had 

 been noticed bj^ Albertus Magnus, for he remarked 

 that the Fig-tree produced ligs without flowering. The 

 fig is realh" an infructescencc, while the "seeds" represent 

 the true fruits. The tasty pulp of the lig consists of 

 the succulent receptacle on which the fruits grow. The 

 fig is therefore a curiously adapted inflorescence, which, 

 instead of displa\ing its flowers on t-^^-igs, develops into 



ranched structure closed 

 :s apex like an urn and 

 producing flowers on 

 its inner surface. — 

 The Caprifig generally 

 bears three crops of 

 fruit_ a year, the edible 

 Fig only two. This cir- 

 cumstance is also recorded 

 by the ancients. The 



Lnvatera mar. 



