Technically, a fig is neither a fruit nor a flower in the traditional sense, but rather an inverted flower structure called a syconium, which develops into what we commonly perceive as the fig "fruit."
The Unusual Anatomy of a Fig
Unlike apples or peaches, fig trees don't produce outwardly visible flowers. Instead, tiny flowers bloom inside the pear-shaped structure that eventually becomes the fig. This structure is called a syconium.
- Inverted Flowers: The flowers are not on the outside of the "fruit," but rather located inside the bulbous structure.
- Pollination: Fig wasps enter the syconium through a small opening called an ostiole to pollinate the flowers inside.
- Development: After pollination, the flowers develop into the small, crunchy "seeds" (achenes) we find inside a fig. The syconium itself swells and matures into the fleshy fig that we eat.
Why the Confusion?
The term "fruit" is often used loosely. In botanical terms, a fruit develops from the ovary of a flower. Because the fig develops from multiple flowers inside the syconium, it's technically a multiple fruit or a synconium.
In Summary
So, while we often think of figs as fruit, they are actually fascinating structures containing inverted flowers that, after pollination and development, result in the edible fig "fruit." The fig itself is a synconium, a unique form of multiple fruit.
