I remember hearing about a parasitic wasp in a fig but is it all figs? I like fig but I don’t often buy it, this information inventivises me not to buy fig…
For a relatively simple explanation. There is a male fig, which only produces pollen. This is what the female fig wasp wants to find to lay her eggs in. Now if the wasp were to enter a female fig by mistake, the pollen covering it since hatching would pollinate the fig, and the enzyme which the fig produces would kill and break down the wasp before it could lay any eggs. After which the broken down wasp would get completely absorbed to provide nutrients as the fig grows and matures.
It’s similar to how a plant’s roots absorb compost, just without the help of bacteria to break things down
Thank you for the explanation, I wasn’t aware of the cycle. It hasn’t put me off figs. I think not knowing easily allows one to make a worse assumption of the actual life cycle.
To my understanding, they don’t all contain wasps, and even the types that do have the wasp thing, any trace of a wasp will be long destroyed before the fruit is ready anyway
Thank you for the input, appreciate it! I’m glad I had 3 very helpful response (yours being one of the 3 helpful ones!). I had assumed the wasp would still be there, didn’t realise it’ll be absorbed as part of the life cycle
Thank you for spending the time to comment but unlike the other responses, yours wasn’t as helpful. After understanding how the wasp is involved in the lifecycle of the fig, I have no qualms eating it.
Also I don’t think understand what your comment is about…
Please don´t be silly, keep enjoying your figs. The wasps are a natural part of the fig and have never bothered you before, have they? They are so tiny you don´t even notice them and they are necessary for the life cycle of the fig tree because they are its pollinators. Without the wasps there would simply be no figs. Its a symbiosis that is the result of a co-evolution of fig trees and fig wasps. I especially recommend pairing figs and cheese, delicious!
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