PLANT PORN: THE FIG

Whether it's in a salad with a sharp blue cheese, served sweet drizzled with honey

or just eaten straight up fresh with no added extras, figs are pretty much universally loved. The plants they grow on also happen to be bloody lovely too. Easy growers, with an abundance of big, fragrant leaves bejewelled with plump, sweet fruits, they add a touch of Mediterranean charm where ever you find one.

 

On the surface, figs might not look like much, but they're pretty amazing. Not really a fruit at all, but flowers! And not just any old flower, but a flowers that bloom inwardly with hundreds of tiny blossoms! 

'How might a flower that blooms inwardly get pollinated?' I hear you ask (humour me on this one). Don't let it put you off, but figs are pollinated by fig wasps, and once they enter the fig, they never leave - eek! In fact, almost every species of fig plant (that's more than 750 in total!) has its own species of wasp especially for this purpose! It's a pretty amazing process, this article gives a great lowdown on it!

 

Despite their seemingly complex pollination process, they are surprising easy going. Figs thrive in any soil with good drainage and need sunshine to ripen up, but apart from them that, they're pretty easy going. In fact, they grow so quickly and so easily that t hey could play a central role in bringing deforested land back to life!