You Might Give a Fig

And then again, you might not. ‘A cop who couldn’t have given a flying fig’: thanks to the Los Angeles Times you have this somewhat more refined expression to use at the next wine and cheese party.

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This appears to have escaped the attention of an Australian husband-and-wife team of scientists in a paper recently published in the journal Human Ecology. David Wilson of Ecology and Heritage Partners and Anna Wilson from the University of Melbourne in Australia examined the many roles in human societies played by Ficus around the world. Alas, many gardeners familiar with figs both indoors and outside might be interested but ultimately disappointed in this recondite research. However, you can always count on the Romans to latch onto a good thing. Ficus is the classical Latin name for the edible fig, F. carica, native western Asia and introduced to the Mediterranean region in antiquity. It was cultivated there as early as perhaps 12,000 B.C. Remains discovered during archaeological excavation of a house in the lower Jordan Valley were reported in the journal Science to have been radiocarbon-dated to about 11,400 years old. Intriguingly, these figs had a mutation that made it impossible for them to bear seeds, hence they must have been cultivated through cuttings hence proving that horticultural practices were in effect by that date. It was also a feature in the barbershop windows of Toronto, at least while such establishments were still extant.

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Even prior to global warming becoming a topic amongst the latte illuminati, hardy selections of Ficus carica were being grown outside year-round as far north as Chicago and Toronto. Grimo Nut Nursery offers half-a-dozen varieties, hardy down to -10ºC, their catalogue suggests; elsewhere the trees may be grown in tubs and moved inside over winter In northern climes, however, inhabitants will perhaps be more acquainted with the ornamental forms of the fig family. As the leading example, we have the all-pervasive shopping mall and commercial building Ficus benjamina, weeping fig or ‘benji’ to the plant trade. In its native tropical Asia, birds pluck the small red fruit to eat. Consequently their bowel evacuations contain the seeds. Contained in a glob of nourishing fertilizer, they may fall to the base of another tree or land on a branch. Upon germination, the growing stem wraps itself around the trunk of its companion tree, slowly strangling it, hence the designation ‘strangler fig.’ Grown as a regular small tree, it may produce aerial roots that may be pruned away. The species name, benjamina, derives from benjan, the Indian name. Despite or perhaps because of its possibly parasitic nature, it found favour with British Members of Parliament in their offices in the new Portcullis House. The dozen F. benjamina trees prevent the place from becoming too hot and noisy, they claim. Perhaps – but at a cost taxpayers £32,500 a year. According to the Daily Mail, more than £400,000 has been spent on the rental and upkeep of the trees since they were installed 12 years ago. Another popular houseplant also originating in tropical Asia is the rubber tree, Ficus elastica. In its native lands it may grow into a mighty 100-foot tall tree with massive buttresses. However, it often commences, like its cousin F. benjamina, as an epiphyte. It is these young trees that are valued as indoor specimens with their large, glossy, dark green leaves. There are several named varieties available, some with red or pink petioles, others with variegated foliage. So why don’t we obtain rubber from the rubber tree? The answer is that we once did. Slash the bark and the tree oozes a thick milky sap or latex. British colonists to the sub-continent observed that when dried this latex was ideal for erasing pencil marks from paper, hence the name ‘rubber.’ Later this made it an important commercial source, only to be replaced in the 19th century by another rubber tree, this time from South America, Hevea brasiliensis. Yet another fig ranging from India through Malaya into Java has found its way into cultivation under the name mistletoe fig. Ficus deltoides is a slow-growing large shrub similar to F. benjamina but bearing generous quantities of small greenish-yellow fruit. In some older works this may be listed as F. diversifoilia. In West Africa the fiddle-leaf fig, Ficus lyrata, lives up to its name with large, leathery fiddle-shaped foliage. Left alone in its native lands, which it very rarely is, it may reach 40 feet or so high. More recently it has found favour among the au courant in Australia and elsewhere, inside if necessary, outside in more mild climates. Ranging from Syria, Egypt and Sudan south into Transvaal in South Africa, the sycamore fig, Ficus sycomarus, is a familiar sight. A small- to medium-size well-branched shade tree it has the additional attraction of bearing small edible fruit along its branches and even on the trunk. Long popular as a landscape shade tree in its native Queensland and New South Wales is Ficus macrophylla, the Moreton Bay fig or Australian banyan. A noble tree with enormous leaves casting welcome shade, it is not unknown as a source of contention as older trees may shed branches onto nearby buildings, vehicles and unfortunate pedestrians. One fig has even entered prominently into religion. Ficus religiosa, the Bo or Peepul Tree, is sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists. Buddha received enlightenment sheltered beneath its spreading branches. While F. religiosa may reach 100 feet or more in height, at the other end of the sale is Ficus pumila, or creeping fig. Widespread in the Orient from northern Vietnam to China, Taiwan, Japan, Ryukyu Islands and won towards Australia, in the West it is more often seen as a modest terrarium plant or modest trailer. In reality it is a vigorous vine with aerial roots similar to those of ivies (Helix) enabling it to cling to walls, pillars and similar surfaces. It is much valued in Chinese traditional medicine. Wee and Hsuan (1990) record that the stems and leaves find use as a tonic for fever, to treat wounds, boils, piles, sore throat, dysentery, and rheumatism, while the fruit relieves hernia, and the roots induce urination, and are used to treat inflammation of the bladder. Had enough? There are around another 8,000 recognized species of Ficus, both evergreen and deciduous, large trees, shrubs and climbing vines – enough to keep scientists such as the Wilsons happy for years. Finally, Ficus arrived in a gesture. The sign of the fig was and still is made with hand clenched and thumb poking out between the first two fingers. In ancient Rome such was a good luck charm, mano fico, and protection against the evil eye. Alas, in these more pugnacious times and cultures it has become an obscene and insulting gesture, especially in Turkey as well as China, Russia, Indonesia, the equivalent of ‘screw you.’

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