Fig trees are of the genus Ficus,
in the mulberry family. The rubber plant, a popular house plant, the Bo tree,
and the Banyan tree are also species of Ficus.
The fig was used by the ancient
Egyptians as long as 6,000 years ago. They were a favorite of Cleopatra. They
also grew in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
A handful of 11,400 year old
dried figs have whetted the appetites of anthropologists. The figs, found in the
abandoned village of Gilgal 1 in the Lower Jordan Valley in Israel, appear to
be the first domesticated plants.
The figs came from an unusual variety of
tree whose fruit grows sweet and soft - but happens to be sterile. Thus the people
of Gilgal must have learned to cultivate new trees by planting shoots.
Smithsonian. Figs
are the sweetest of all fruits, with 55% sugar content. The flower of the fig
is inside the fruit, so there are no blossoms on fig trees. Sort of like an inside
out strawberry.
The fig, one of mankind’s oldest fruits, is only now
receiving its due attention in homes across the United States. Although considered
a fruit, the fig is actually a flower inverted into it.
They are the only
fruit to ripen on the tree. The fig fruit spread too many of the Mediterranean
countries. | 
