Fig, Common Fig (Ficus carica)
The Common Fig has distinctive large leaves with net-like patterning and inconspicuous flowers enclosed in a jug-like structure. The tasty false fruits are green or purple-green in colour. Also thrives in Central European regions with mild winters.
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Appearance
The Common Fig has distinctive large leaves with net-like patterning and inconspicuous flowers enclosed in a jug-like structure. The tasty false fruits are green or purple-green in colour. Also thrives in Central European regions with mild winters.
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Leaves
Ovate to broadly ovate, palmate cleaved 3-7-lobed leaves, alternate. Leaves are green above and below. Very hairy and slightly wavy. 10-30cm long, 8-25cm wide, slightly hairy leaf stem. Yellow autumn colouring.
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Leaf upperside
Ovate to broadly ovate, palmate cleaved 3-7-lobed leaves, alternate. Leaves are green above and below. Very hairy and slightly wavy. 10-30cm long, 8-25cm wide, slightly hairy leaf stem. Yellow autumn colouring.
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Leaf underside
Ovate to broadly ovate, palmate cleaved 3-7-lobed leaves, alternate. Leaves are green above and below. Very hairy and slightly wavy. 10-30cm long, 8-25cm wide, slightly hairy leaf stem. Yellow autumn colouring.
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Flowers
Flowering period: VIII-IX (late fig), VI-VI (genuine fig), III-III (early fig). Monoecious, very small flowers in three generations. Blossoms usually appear in very large numbers on the inside of a hollow calyx in three forms. Male flowers with four stamen, female flower forms the seeds.
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Fruits
Pleasant-tasting violet, brownish or greenish stone fruit (small fruits surrounded by the increasingly succulent perianth), of particular ornamental value. Only the summer figs ripen in our climate; autumn figs rarely ripen here.
Application
Gardens, solitary tree in collections, orchards
Native regions
Southwest Asia
Location parameters
Light: sunny to off-sun; soil type: sandy to loamy; nutrient concentration: normal to high; pH value of the soil: slightly acid to alkaline; soil: fresh to moist.
Demands
Moderately frost-hardy, may be damaged by late frost; tolerates urban climates, intolerant of flooding and changes in the groundwater table. Light: sun to off-sun.
Growth
2 - 4m high
Leaves
Ovate to broadly ovate, palmate cleaved 3-7-lobed leaves, alternate. Leaves are green above and below. Very hairy and slightly wavy. 10-30cm long, 8-25cm wide, slightly hairy leaf stem. Yellow autumn colouring.
Flowers
Flowering period: VIII-IX (late fig), VI-VI (genuine fig), III-III (early fig). Monoecious, very small flowers in three generations. Blossoms usually appear in very large numbers on the inside of a hollow calyx in three forms. Male flowers with four stamen, female flower forms the seeds.
Fruits
Pleasant-tasting violet, brownish or greenish stone fruit (small fruits surrounded by the increasingly succulent perianth), of particular ornamental value. Only the summer figs ripen in our climate; autumn figs rarely ripen here.
Bark
Grey or grey-green bark, fairly smooth, grainy. Branches are green or green-brown, occasionally striped on the surface, with round cross-section.