Before we consider these different varieties, a few remarks on the
nature and structure of the fruit are necessary. The fig which we eat is
really a receptacle, on the surface of which are situated the numerous
flowers. But as this surface is concave, or curved inwardly, like the
hollow of a closed hand, the flowers can not be seen except when the fig
is cut. Then it becomes apparent that the chamber formed by the curved
receptacle communicates with the outside by means of the “eye” at its
apex. In some varieties the “eye” is almost closed, opening only when
the fig has reached a certain age; in others it is so large that a pea
could easily pass through. The flowers are always more or less fleshy,
are generally imperfect, and do not much resemble the bright flowers of
other fruit trees and plants in our gardens. There are four distinct
kinds of fig flowers, but these are not always found in a single fig, in
fact they are rarely all found together. They are designated as follows:
_Male flowers._—These possess four pollen-producing stamens. They are
found only in the wild or “caprifig,” the ancestor of our cultivated
figs, and in a very few varieties of edible figs.
_Female flowers._—These possess a single style, stigma, and ovary, and
when fertilized, produce seeds. Owing to the absence of male flowers, or
the failure of the male and female flowers in the same fig to mature at
the same time, they rarely produce fertile seeds unless fertilized by
pollen carried by insects.
_Gall flowers._—These are degenerate female flowers which do not produce
seeds, the abortive ovary serving only for the habitation and breeding
place of a very small wasp, the _Blastophaga_, which is used in
caprification. The gall flowers are found only in the original wild fig.
_Mule flowers._—These are imperfect female flowers, incapable of
producing seeds or of affording a breeding place for the wasp. These
flowers are found to the exclusion of all others in most of our
cultivated figs.
Because of these differences in the flowers the numerous varieties of
edible figs may be divided into tribes or subspecies. These are as
follows: