Fig, Common Fig (Ficus carica)

Pictures

1 2 3 4 5 6

•  
  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.

•  
  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.

•  
  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.

•  
  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.

•  
  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.

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.

• Pests and diseases of this tree/shrub