Fig trees are a favorite in southern gardens as a food and for shade. A member of the mulberry family, the deciduous tree can reach a mature height of 30 feet.

Despite their popularity and productivity, fig trees, Ficus carica var. domestica had me perplexed. What do fig flowers look and smell like? Springtime showcases the blossoms of the apple, apricot, cherry, peach, and pear. When does a fig tree bloom? I’ve asked many a fig tree owner what the blossom looks like and none could recollect seeing flowers. Is the flower so small as to be inconspicuous?

The enigma of the fig flower became a fascinating botanical journey. In high school botany we learn that flowers set off a chain of events including pollination, fertilization, and fruit. Not so with the common fig growing in Midland gardens! In fact, figs are not considered a true fruit by botanists; they are false fruit or better identified as synconium. What we eat is a synconium, a vase–shaped floral stem tissue turned inside out and housing clusters of flowers. Thousands of miniscule fig flowers are inside and unseen unless you dissect the fig. The common edible fig flowers are only females and develop interior drupelets, the actual botanical fruits, without pollination and fertilization. Columbia figs, the brown turkey and Celeste, are virgins. Furthermore, our molars masticate a bouquet of fig flowers with every synconium eaten.

In the southeast, figs are grown in the home garden, but in California, fig growing capital of the U.S., commercially grown figs like the Smyrna are a leading agriculture crop. The Smyrna fig’s internal flow- ers require pollination by a tiny fig wasp that enters the eye of the fig, a pinhole opening at the broad tip end. In figs requiring pollination to form synconia, each type of fig has a particular species of fig wasp about the size of a gnat to pollinate the internal flowers. Female wasps lay their eggs inside the fig and then die there. Consumers eat more than flowers with wasp–pol l inated f igs. Crunchy seeds are a clue to a fig visited by wasps.

Fortunately figs are delicious and nutritious. Fig trees are longlived. If you plan to add one to your garden, Clemson Extension recommends planting in late winter before trees break dormancy in spring. Fig trees benefit from a southerly exposure where they can bask in sunlight at least eight hours per day. While drought tolerant, trees require an inch of water per week for best synconium production. Generally, fig trees are lowmaintenance. The main pest in this part of the state is root–knot nematodes.

Fig trees are native to western Asia and were distributed around the Mediterranean for cultivation. Spanish explorers brought the fig to Florida around 1575. Franciscan missionaries brought the first figs to California about 1769 where they were grown in mission gardens, hence the name mission figs. Thomas Jefferson created a fig terrace at Monticello where even today his favorite varieties—Marseilles, Brown Turkey, and Angelique— are grown.

This Tree of Life Fig is in Shandon. Fortunately, figs are a food both delicious and nutritious. Although figs have an ancient biblical background, they are superfoods for the 21st century. As a fat free, sodium free snack or dessert with only 30 calories per fig, they are packed with nutrients, fiber, minerals, and antioxidants. They contain notable amounts of magnesium, iron, copper, potassium, and calcium. High fiber, soluble and insoluble, contributes to a feeling of fullness many dieters need.