© 2024 South Carolina Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Not All Figs Require Pollination

Making It Grow! Minute logo

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Some members of the fig genus Ficus are dioecious – have male and female flowers on separate plants. Others are monoecious with both male and female flowers in the same structure. You never see any of these flowers – figs are examples of a syconium – an inverted flower with all the sexual structures on the inside.

The ones that require pollination all have a unique tiny wasp and believe it or not – those tiny wasp have other tiny wasp that are parasites on them! Many figs that are pollinated do have remnants of wasps in them -- it’s a good thing they are so tiny and that the seeds are so crunchy! Many connoisseurs say that the oil that is produced in the fertilized seeds is what gives certain figs a more complex and rich flavor. Our southern figs are produced without pollination – parthenocarpically.

Stay Connected
Amanda McNulty is a Clemson University Extension Horticulture agent and the host of South Carolina ETV’s Making It Grow! gardening program. She studied horticulture at Clemson University as a non-traditional student. “I’m so fortunate that my early attempts at getting a degree got side tracked as I’m a lot better at getting dirty in the garden than practicing diplomacy!” McNulty also studied at South Carolina State University and earned a graduate degree in teaching there.