Yes figs are pollinated by a species of wasp that literally dies inside of it. There are a few varieties of the common fig that self-pollinate so if you don't have a dead wasp in your fig that's actually rather uncommon. To be fair though the males are the ones that die and they're rather small so you likely wouldn't notice it. Just a small protein boost
It's actually quite a striking example of coevolution. There are hundreds (855 according to the Catalog of Life) of different species of figs and almost just as many corresponding species of fig wasps for each species.
Makes me wonder if we should think of the fig wasp more like an organ of the fig than a separate individual. Just like we do with mitochondria which at some point were a separate living organism and still maintains a separate set of DNA
> figs are pollinated by a species of wasp that literally dies inside of it
Are figs like other fruits in that a flower is pollinated and then the fruit grows out of it?
I bought a house 2 years ago and have a fig tree in the back yard. The first summer, the tree produced only about a dozen or two figs, but I never got any as they disappeared as soon as they started turning color (wildlife). This summer, the tree produced nearly 100 little figs but none of them ever matured/ripened and none were taken by wildlife. I didn't notice that many bees/wasps in the area of that tree (though all the other fruiting plants in my yard did extremely well - and I got to eat almost 1/3 of it!).
I'm just wondering if the tree produces the fig regardless of pollination but that pollination is required for ripening. Or if pollination is required to produce the fig at all (like how most fruiting plants work).
You got what is called Smyrna type fig - the type that needs pollination by the fig wasp in order to ripen. Since you seem to not have such a colony of wasps around, the figs won't ripen. If you want to grow and eat really good figs that doesn't require pollination, there're varieties plenty to choose from. You need to look and buy from a reputable nursery, not from generic store or nursery. Check with the community at ourfigs.com
Now that I know this, I will probably remove the tree - eventually. It's near the deck and I don't want wasps around. Additionally, there's a big snake that likes to sun itself around the tree. Not that I mind so much, but a lot of visitors get really nervous!
One of these years, I'll get a better variety and plant it further up the hill, and move the stones that hold the heat that the snake likes so he can go hang out up there :)
Wow what a great community, thanks for sharing. Got any other similar communities? There's also:
* www.bananas.org/
* tropicalfruitforum.com/
* permies.com/forums
I'm keeping a list because I find it difficult to find actual human stories about their experiences with certain plants and I'd like to some day build something to parse online plant-centric communities like these. Especially if they're this niche!
Store bought varieties of the common fig are likely a self-pollinating variety but the wild variety of the common fig, as well as most of the rest of the 800+ species of figs, are not self-pollinating
The conflict regards eating meat right, not relying on other organisms for their production? Because then a lot of fruits or other types of plants can't be eaten if they rely on pollination, right?
If that's the case, then a lot of foods can be considered not vegan by that definition. That includes some trees that are fertilized by dead animals, inadvertently, or by petroleum based fertilizers. Death of wasps by a very natural process is similar in spirit to the latter two. Not just eating meat (which eggs can sort of be considered, same for drinking milk).
I wouldn't say a wasp that died in a fig was exploited intentionally by any human, at least, unless the wasps are introduced to figs in order for them to pollinate them. If the absence of action also is considered exploitation, then eating fruit from a tree that a rat has died under could be considered exploitation of animals by that criteria.
Yes, this is a bit of a reductio ad absurdum, but a dead wasp in a fig is already a bit down that road. There is certainly a difference between drinking milk from a cow and a (likely) accidentally dead wasp in a fig.
I’m not a vegan, but I think this take is way off. If you purposely exploit an animal for food, especially in unfavourable conditions, like putting chickens in cages and harvesting their eggs, farming animals for meat, that’s not vegan.
If you are out in the woods and eat the fruit of a tree that an animal died under and fertilised, that’s fine. It probably also doesn’t extend to animals that were dead long enough to turn into oil.
California's almond industry is notorious for the devastating effects it has on honeybees and the diseases it spreads. By that definition, California almonds are also not vegan
Interesting. We had a fig tree growing up, and I must have eaten hundreds or thousands of them as a kid. I never remember seeing wasps, and I'm pretty sure I would have noticed!
That's because there weren't any wasps. Only some fig varieties depend on them. Parthenocarpic cultivars don't (however the resulting fruits are sterile I think).
It seems that normal fig wasps do dissolve with how long it takes to grow the fruit after pollination, but the wasps they found were separate from the normal ones and may have entered later
It's a bit more remarkable than you're making it out to be. There are 855 species of Ficus (figs) and almost every one of them has a corresponding species of fig wasp. A wasp that pollinates basically only that species of fig
The figs you buy at a supermarket are of a self-fertile variety of the common fig (Ficus carica), but even the wild variety of this species is not self-fertile
