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What a fig is.

andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com

31–40 of 88 posts

Re: What a fig is.

#31
post #26

If you are squeamish and like figs, this may comfort you. According to a comment in the original post, majority of commercial ones do not contain insects: "Only some kinds of figs (so called 'Smyrna' types) are pollenated by wasps. The vast majority of figs eaten come from varieties that produce fruit parthenocarpically. It is highly unlikely that the fig you ate at the supermarket was of a variety pollenated by wasp…

More on parthenocarpy, a word I did not know existed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenocarpy

Essentially a mutation that gets trees to produce useless fruits that don't have actually developed seeds and don't need pollination. While that sort of mutation would normally be selected against, since the trees can't reproduce via seeds and are expending energy on producing fruit for no reason, it's deliberately selected for by farmers who artificially reproduce the trees via planting cuttings, or grafting them onto rootstock.

(Though I guess really the "naturally" versus "artificially" distinction is a bit, erm, artificial, if you just think of humans as another species, since lots of natural selection is influenced by relationships between species, like the wasp-fig relationship in this article. So trees evolving to please humans isn't really different in kind from trees evolving to work well with wasps.)

Re: What a fig is.

#32
post #15

Ripe figs are delicious, and knowing that they've also, potentially killed a wasp - man's greatest enemy - only makes their nectar sweeter to my tongue.

Time to quibble! 1.) Wasps as man's greatest enemy? Really? If we were being poetic, here, then I'd say that Man's greatest enemy is Man themselves, but this is HN, so I won't. For a runner up, I would at least choose an animal that can actually kill a healthy human, rather than one that and annoy a healthy human and kill a subset with allergic reactions of venom. 2.) There are a lot of species of wasp. According to…

Nectar is also a term used for sweetened and watered down (until it is drinkable) fruit puree. I haven't seen any recently, but you used to be able to buy apricot nectar at any grocery store, and gourmet food shops often had pear and peach nectars as well (and rarely oddballs like plum or blackberry).

Re: What a fig is.

#34
post #15

Ripe figs are delicious, and knowing that they've also, potentially killed a wasp - man's greatest enemy - only makes their nectar sweeter to my tongue.

Time to quibble! 1.) Wasps as man's greatest enemy? Really? If we were being poetic, here, then I'd say that Man's greatest enemy is Man themselves, but this is HN, so I won't. For a runner up, I would at least choose an animal that can actually kill a healthy human, rather than one that and annoy a healthy human and kill a subset with allergic reactions of venom. 2.) There are a lot of species of wasp. According to…

Meta-quibble: A fig is a modified inflorescence (more precisely, a synconium), and can contain many hundred nectar producing flowers.

Re: What a fig is.

#35
post #30
post #26

If you are squeamish and like figs, this may comfort you. According to a comment in the original post, majority of commercial ones do not contain insects: "Only some kinds of figs (so called 'Smyrna' types) are pollenated by wasps. The vast majority of figs eaten come from varieties that produce fruit parthenocarpically. It is highly unlikely that the fig you ate at the supermarket was of a variety pollenated by wasp…

They are correct. Most of the figs, at least the fresh ones you would buy in the US, are parthenocarpic. Dried figs, or what might be in a fig newton, well... you're on your own on that one. There is an amazing amount of wildlife in a wasp pollinated fig. If you break one open, all sorts of interesting stuff crawls out, not just immature wasps, but also a lot of organisms that prey on the wasps.

Dried figs, or what might be in a fig newton, well... you're on your own on that one.

err, that's what I was most interested in... I've eaten an entire pack of fig newtons in one sitting.

Re: What a fig is.

#36

I have to say from experience... If you move into a house (purchase/rent/otherwise) with a fig tree and plan to relandscape. Be very careful. Fig tree roots run very shallow, and even older trees are susceptible to damage to the roots. I found out the hard way - rototilling an overgrown back yard due to too much grass, weeds, bulbs, etc. The 'till chomped through two or three large surface roots ( Be careful when gar…

Sounds like you and pigbucket up there should have a chat.

(Re: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1685161 if you hadn't seen.)

Re: What a fig is.

#37

I have to say from experience... If you move into a house (purchase/rent/otherwise) with a fig tree and plan to relandscape. Be very careful. Fig tree roots run very shallow, and even older trees are susceptible to damage to the roots. I found out the hard way - rototilling an overgrown back yard due to too much grass, weeds, bulbs, etc. The 'till chomped through two or three large surface roots ( Be careful when gar…

Sounds like you and pigbucket up there should have a chat. (Re: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1685161 if you hadn't seen.)

I missed that, that is pretty awesome. I'm not a fan of figs, but the significant other and friends are. For me, losing an old tree due to not knowing it's proper care was the bit of a downer.

I don't quite feel pigbucket's hate. :)

Re: What a fig is.

#38
post #12

Hence why I stopped eating figs.

Do you eat hot dogs? I don't. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhwXPsTaRgc

skip the video and forget ramen profitability. the real standard is the Costco hot dog. $1.50 for an excellent treat with unlimited soda refills.

Re: What a fig is.

#39
post #35
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are correct. Most of the figs, at least the fresh ones you would buy in the US, are parthenocarpic. Dried figs, or what might be in a fig newton, well... you're on your own on that one. There is an amazing amount of wildlife in a wasp pollinated fig. If you break one open, all sorts of interesting stuff crawls out, not just immature wasps, but also a lot of organisms that prey on the wasps.

Dried figs, or what might be in a fig newton, well... you're on your own on that one. err, that's what I was most interested in... I've eaten an entire pack of fig newtons in one sitting.

"I've eaten an entire biological micro-ecosystem in one sitting."

FTFY!

Glad I don't like fig newtons. :)

Re: What a fig is.

#40
post #10

thank you, didn't want to know that.

Why not? Did that not just humble you a bit with the sheer grace and awe yielded by hundreds of years of evolution? I don't know about you, but my world just got slightly more awesome knowing about this.

hundreds??

no i think it took way longer than that. maybe even tens!

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