Ficus

Plants of the fig family may range in size from small shrubs to trees reaching 40 m/130 ft or more. They are found throughout the tropics. The edible fig originated in West Asia and has been cultivated for at least 6,000 years. It is now grown mainly in Italy, Turkey, Greece, and California. The fruit may be eaten fresh or preserved and dried. Figs are pollinated by parasitic wasps.

Figs, a genus of plants in the Moraceae (mulberry) family, chiefly indigenous to tropical forests, and including around 800 species with widely diverse characteristics. The fig tree F. carica, a native of Asia Minor and Syria, now grows wild around the Mediterranean. The fruit of the wild variety lacks the succulence of cultivated figs. The rubber plant F. elastica is frequently cultivated as a house plant; the bo tree F. religiosa, held sacred by Brahmans and Buddhists, yields a gum resembling rubber; the banyan F. benghalensis yields a type of rubber, the bark and roots are used as coarse rope-fibre. F. pumila is the climbing fig of Southeast Asia, which secretes a gum with which it sticks its aerial roots to supporting trees.