how are figs pollinated

Figs are pollinated in a very unusual way: in nature, most wild figs rely on tiny specialized fig wasps that crawl inside the fig to pollinate its hidden flowers, while many cultivated figs today can form fruit without any pollination at all through a process called parthenocarpy.

Hidden flowers, hidden partner

What we call a “fig” is actually a hollow ball of tissue lined on the inside with many tiny flowers, so the flowers are not exposed like apple or cherry blossoms. Because the flowers are enclosed, regular pollinators like bees cannot reach them, which is why figs evolved a very tight partnership with minuscule fig wasps.

The fig–wasp mutualism

In fig species that need pollination, a female fig wasp finds a receptive fig by following its scent and enters through a tiny opening called the ostiole at the tip of the fig. As she squeezes through, she often loses her wings and antennae but carries pollen from the fig where she was born, then crawls around inside, laying eggs in some flowers and inadvertently pollinating others.

Inside the fig: eggs and seeds

Once inside, the wasp lays eggs in certain flowers, which the fig then surrounds with plant tissue that will feed the developing larvae. Other flowers that don’t get an egg but do receive pollen develop into seeds, so the same fig structure supports both the wasp’s offspring and the tree’s own seeds.

How the cycle continues

When the larvae mature, males emerge first, mate with females inside the fig, and then chew exit tunnels through the fig wall before dying there. The female wasps load themselves with pollen from the now-mature male flowers inside the same fig and leave through the tunnels to search for new young figs, repeating the cycle.

What about edible and store-bought figs?

In traditional fig-growing regions, growers sometimes use caprification: they hang male “caprifigs” that house wasps near female fig trees so that wasps will carry pollen over and improve seed set and flavor in varieties that require pollination. However, many commercial varieties (like common Californian types of Ficus carica) are parthenocarpic, meaning they do not need pollination or fig wasps to produce the sweet, seedless fruit found in most supermarkets.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.