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, ). 

 Figs are dioecious, 

 so that some trees 

 bear only figs with 

 staminate flowers 

 (Fig. 247, C), and 

 others only figs 

 with pistillate flow- 

 ers (Fig. 247, D). 

 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 dioecious, 

 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, 



FIG. 247. The fig : A, branch bearing a fig ; B, sec- 

 tion of fig showing flowers within; C, staminate 

 flower ; D, pistillate flower. After WOSSIDLO. 



