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Check your spam folder for an email from service coldstorage. Create an Account! Personal Corporate. Is Government Agency? Send me Cold Storage deals and promotions via email! Smoked Fish. All Prepared. Meal Kits. Gourmet Kitchen. All Bakery. All Snacks. All Crackers Snack Crackers. All Pantry. All Drinks. All Coffee Capsule. All Alcohol. Alcohol Free. There are more than species of figs globally, with 48 species native to Singapore. Figs may be climbers, creepers, small bushes or huge trees.
The most awesome are the strangling figs that begin life as a small plant from seeds dropped by a bird or climbing animal , high up on a tall host tree. The young fig sends down long roots. When the roots reach the ground, they thicken and encircle the host tree. By shading out and preventing the host tree from thickening its trunk, the now rapidly growing fig eventually 'strangles' and kills the host tree. Features: Figs are fascinating because of their unique flowering structure and intriguing relationship with the tiny fig-wasps that pollinate them.
Before the fig becomes a real 'fruit', it is actually an inside-out flower! At first, little round things develop on the tree. These are not yet fruits but a fleshy, hollow structure with tiny flowers inside the hollow. This is why we refer to these structures as figs, and we say the tree is 'figging'. After the tiny hidden flowers are fertilised and develop seeds, the fig becomes a compound fruit.
That is, all the tiny fertilised fig 'fruits' are fused together. Like in a strawberry or pineapple. But turned inside out! Figs have three kinds of flowers. Science Ng, Angie et al. A Guide to the Fabulous Figs of Singapore. Singapore Science Centre. Shanahan, M. SO, S. Compton, and R. Fig-eating by vertebrate frugivores: a global review.
Biological Reviews A Singapore Government Agency Website. A Fabulous Fig Tree 14 min read. Text by Dr. Walking over, I see a flurry of activity: long-tailed macaques are hopping from branch to branch, plantain squirrls are scurrying about, and a variety of birds are flocking to a great big tree that is covered with thousands of small, red, juicy fruit. It's a feeding frenzy, and the host? A fruit with a long history Wild figs have existed for millions of years but their use in agriculture by our ancestors appears to have originated as far back as 11, years ago in the Near East.
Their discovery, which was published in the journal Science , suggests that figs were being used in agriculture even before olives and grapes, making them the oldest cultivated fruits to date Most figs that are cultivated by mankind are varieties of a single species, Ficus carica , also known as the Common Fig. Today, figs are found wherever the weather permits and are cultivated in regions outside their native range like France and California This Malayan Banyan or Jejawi tree Ficus microcarpa is a prominent landmark at Kallang Riverside Park.
At the bottom of this receptacle, keen observers will see a tiny entrance called the ostiole. This hole serves to allow the female fig wasp to enter the syconium.
She then proceeds to simultaneously pollinate the fig and lay her eggs. Her offspring, when they finally emerge as adults, will then mate with each other within the syconium. The male wasps die after mating, but the mated female will exit the syconium via the ostiole, carrying pollen on her body as she flies off to find other figs of the same species.
When she reaches and enters a new syconium, the pollen on her body fertilises the fig and the life-cycles of both tree and wasp are repeated. In the meantime, the pollinated florets in the syconium will ripen and turn the receptacle into a delectable fruit enjoyed by humans and frugivorous animals.
In short, the fig tree provides a nest for the offspring of the fig wasp, and in return the fig wasp pollinates the flowers of the fig.
It is a mutualism that has lasted over 60 millions years and ensured the survival of both groups of organisms. Figs in culture and cultivation Unlike animals in the wild, people are luckier since most of the appetising figs that end up in our stores and on our plates are parthenocarpic, which means that the fig ripens on its own without pollination.
Figs in various forms Not all figs grow to become massive trees like the Banyan or Bodhi. Share on. Notes References Chong, K. You May Also Like.
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