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Ficus carica the Edible Fig, London, UK

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ABOVE: A variety of the Edible Fig Ficus carica  known as Brown Turkey grown in the UK.

Although several species of  wild figs are edible by humans, the only species that is widely cultivated is Ficus carica which grows wild from the Mediterranean east to Afghanistan. Ficus carica has been domesticated for several thousands of years and numerous cultivars have been developed.  In the wild F. carica is dioecious with separate male and female trees but the majority of  cultivars are parthenocarpic with female trees able to produce sweet fleshy edible figs without pollination by fig wasps.

This two year old Ficus carica (Brown Turkey variety) is growing in the back garden of a house in Ealing, west London.
This two year old Ficus carica has already started to produce fig fruits. See orange circle.
In   the sunnier, longer summers in southern Europe  Ficus carica produces two crops  of fig fruits a year. In London, UK a  first ripe crop is produced in August  and a second crop is started   even as the first crop is ripening (see the small green fig at the top of photo above)  but the UK summer is too short for  second crop figs to survive and they wither on the tree without developing.
The  winters in the UK and most of Northern Europe are too cold for fig wasps to survive so only parthenocarpic varieties of figs can be grown in the UK. Because they do not produce seeds  parthenocarpic fig plants are propagated by cuttings or marcots which means that they are clones  or genetic replicas of the mother tree.
A ripe female parthenocarpic fig fruit of Ficus carica (variety Brown Turkey) grown in London. These figs are delicious even though there are no seeds.

 

A second crop of figs develops in late summer on Ficus carica in the UK but  these figs never ripen except in exceptionally long hot summer weather.

Problems with growing Ficus carica in Borneo. 

 

 

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