veganmonk wrote: After watching the video, I think if I'm not mistaken, all figs require pollination, but within each fig, are male and female flower components, and the male side does not get pollinated, but, that really doesn't mean anything
VM per information on the California Rare Fruit Growers website and on another website that gives tips on growing figs, it is clearly stated that the common fig does not need any pollination.
Per your source, this only shows 2 species of figs - not all.
In this film, the symbiosis is analysed and some of the diverging features of the relationship between two fig species (Ficus natalensis leprieuri and F. ottoniifolia) and their pollinating wasps (respectively: Alfonsiella natalensis, later identified as Alfonsiella fimbriata) and Agaon camerunensis and Agaon gabonensis (later identified as belonging to genus Courtella) are compared through ecological, ethological, morphological and evolutionary aspects.
Also, per your website
At the moment species coverage is limited to the Afrotropical region, but page development for the rest of the world's fig species is in progress. Ultimately, we aim to have complete coverage of all Ficus species.
So this website doesn't really present a complete picture imho. Again, per information from 2 different sources, there are 4 types of figs - the common fig, Smyrna figs, San Pedro figs and caprifigs. While 3 do require pollination, 1 (ficus cariga - the common fig) does not require pollination as all the flowers are female.
I'll go one further -- here's a
3rd sourcethat states:
Taxonomy, cultivars.
The cultivated fig, Ficus carica L., is a member of the Moraceae (mulberry family). Other important fruit-bearing species include the mulberries (Morus spp.), Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis Fosb.), Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.), and several tropical Ficus species produce edible fruit for local consumption and wildlife. Other Ficus species of importance - F. elastica ("rubber plant") and F. benjamina (Ficus tree or weeping fig); important indoor foliage plants; the latter is used as a hedge or landscape tree in tropical areas.
4 types of cultivars:
1. Caprifig. "Male", but actually bears both staminate and pistillate flowers. Inedible; used to pollinate Smyrna and San Pedro types; grown outside the orchard, picked prior to wasp emergence, and hung in baskets in trees.
2. Smyrna fig. Requires pollination for fruit set, but wasp does not oviposit in fruit, styles too long. One main crop/yr, the "second" crop; first crop is very light, only a few fruits/tree. 'Calimyrna' is the only Smyrna cultivar grown in California, and is the most widely produced cultivar.
3. Common fig. Parthenocarpic; first crop borne on 1-yr-old wood, second crop borne on current season's growth. Most commercial cultivars are found in this group: 'Mission', 'Kadota' (syn. 'Dottato'), 'Magnolia' (syn. 'Brunswick'), 'Brown Turkey', 'Celeste'
4. San Pedro fig. Combined characteristics of Smyrna and Common figs. First crop - parthenocarpic, called "brebas"; second crop - requires pollination by wasp. Rarely cultivated commercially.
Origin, history of cultivation.
The fig is native to western Asia, and has been cultivated for thousands of years in Mediterranean countries of Europe and North Africa. Figs were introduced to England and Mexico in the 1500's, then the Eastern US in 1669, and to California in 1881. Common figs were cultivated successfully throughout the Gulf states and California, but the Smyrna fig did not fruit until it was realized that a tiny wasp was needed for pollination, which was not native to California. The wasp (Blastophaga psenes) was introduced in 1900.
Therefore you are mistaken when you state that all figs require pollination as the common fig (Ficus carica) does not and is therefore vegan.
But that's a moot point as your quoted description was regarding the Calmyrna fig - one of the cultivars of the Smyrna type (which is one of the 3 types of figs needing pollination) - not the 1 type (Ficus carica) that doesn't need pollination and is vegan.
he he, little extra protein she said.
