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I’m Willing To Walk In Darkness If It Keeps Humans In The Light
- May 14
- 3 min read
Victoria Schwab's quote makes me think about figs, and the one wasp that sacrifices its life for you to enjoy such marvellous, hidden-flower fruit.
Have you ever seen a fig tree blossoming? I guess you will never know, and not because you don’t know what a flower looks like, but because its blossoms don’t look like the ones you are used to.
It turns out that their flowers are hidden from the outside world. Unlike most fruit trees, a fig's blossoms bloom entirely out of sight inside the pear-shaped, fleshy pod that eventually matures into the fruit we love and enjoy! Because fig flowers are inverted inside the pod, known as a syconium, you will never see open blossoms on the branches, and basically, they are the only ones that can perform this magic trick (the syconia family). The baby figs you see emerging on the stems in the spring are actually clusters of hundreds of tiny, enclosed flowers! Incredible no?
Figs are typically ready to harvest between July and October, depending on the variety and local climate, but wild figs can be harvested during August and September. In warmer areas of the south or the Mediterranean like ours (Alcoi), the harvest can begin slightly earlier, at the end of July. Because figs do not ripen after being picked, they must mature fully on the tree before harvesting.
I must admit that while growing up, I had zero appreciation towards this unique tree, but since we live in Alcoi, I even find it in its wild form next to the sidewalk, and it’s captivating. The main reason? Because, like most fruit trees, it relies on pollinators, but especially on one life-sacrifing wasp! Grab you tissues for the next part...
It’s a tiny wasp about 2 mm long! Known as the fig wasp (Blastophaga psenes). If you look for a photo you won’t think much of it, but this impressive female fig wasp enters the young fig through a tiny hole (ostiole). As she does so, she usually loses her wings and becomes trapped inside (willingly), where she pollinates the flowers while laying her eggs. In wild figs, the larvae hatch, mate, and the fertilized females escape to repeat the cycle, leaving behind the remains of the mother wasp, which are decomposed by the fruit itself. Isn’t it sad!? Yes, she walks into darkness to give us the shining light of figs.
Before you freak out and wonder if you had eaten any of them, you probably have not, since commercial figs that we consume in fruit shops come from cultivated varieties that ripen without the need for pollination (by parthenocarpy), so they do not contain wasps inside. Basically, the fruit develops without requiring any pollination or fertilisation stimulus through the natural or hormonally induced development of seedless figs without fertilisation. Because the seeds are never pollinated, the plant redirects all its energy into developing the fleshy, edible, and seedless fruit (the syconium), which does not make it better than the real deal! But I guess it is necessary.
The first time I found a wild fig tree, I cut one branch and tried to grow one from the cutting, and you know what? It is the most noble one! They are developing just fine through the greenhouse effect. I removed all leaves and put them in soil with a bag covering them, and you will see in the photo below how they are doing…
Not to brag, but since I probably have never had a true fig, I will go back around August to where I found the fig tree in the video below, and get a couple to honour our brave tiny wasps! For now, I took one fig to open it up and show you what a fig flower looks like in its early stage. I am so excited! Yay! This is entirely new to me!
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