Those little things (NINA!!! What are they called?) are not fruit. The
actual blosson is inside them, and the tiny wasp must crawl inside to die
and fertilize the plant.


Umm.... hypanthia? A fig "flower" is an inside-out compound aggregate of hundreds of flowers. Remember this the next time you bite into a fig newton: Dude, you're eatin' a dead wasp.

Other relatives of the fig include the mulberry, and the "Osage orange", quite strange in its own right.


The Osage orange, with its very green leaves and rough orange bark make very attractive bonsai. They have to be fairly large. I have 2 -- a Chinese-style exposed root and a large broom.

Thorns are a wicked problem, though -- although there reputedly is a thornless one.

Jim Lewis -

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