Re: Do fig trees have flowers?

Hello Gunnar,

All trees that bear fruit have flowers. The fruit, after all, is an
enlarged portion of the flower (carpellate or perfect) itself; the ovary.

Here is a webpage that describes this:

http://www.fairchildgarden.org/EduProfDev/Flower_structure.html

An interesting thing to note is that some species of trees have only either
female (carpelate) or male (staminate) flowers. In this case, it is only
the tree with the female (carpelate) flowers that produces fruit. Based on
this site:
http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/full/91/5/767

I am not entirely sure what type of flower fig trees (ficus) have, but based
on what I have found below, it seems that some may have only female
(carpelate) and others only male (staminate).
It seems that the flowers might indeed be very different than most flowers,
however. This is supported by the article from above:
http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/full/91/5/767
...that talks about the peculiarites of the Fig blossom and how only a very
peculiar type of wasp can pollinate them.

This would lead me to guess that fig blossoms are rather small, nondescript
and therefore not noted 2500 years ago as being flowers at all.

That said, I found these various quotes from random websites that seem to
support this view:
"The blossoms are very small and line the inside wall of the pear shaped
fig."
http://www.landowne.org/rc/ft.html
"Smyrna fig trees do not produce blossoms on their branches; instead they
produce huge numbers of tiny flowers inside female receptacles that
ultimately grow into the fleshy fig."
http://www.soupsong.com/ffig.html
"Fig trees have no blossoms on their branches. The blossom is inside of the
fruit! Many tiny flowers produce the crunchy little seeds that give figs
their unique texture. "
http://www.valleyfig.com/c_figs/

Hopefully this is helpful to you.

Metta,

Alan

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gunnar Gällmo" <gunnargallmo@...>
To: <pali@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2005 11:30 AM
Subject: [Pali] Do fig trees have flowers?


> Is there anyone in this list knowledgeable about
> botanics, who could answer that question?
>
> The reason for my asking it is the fifth stanza of the
> Uragasutta in the Suttanipaata:
>
> 5. Yo naajjhagamaa bhavesu saara"m, vicina"m
> pupphamiva [pupphamiva
> (bahuusu)] udumbaresu;
> so bhikkhu jahaati orapaara"m, urago
> ji.n.namivattaca"m puraa.na"m.
>
> (VRI:s text on line)
>
> This is translated by Thanissaro:
>
> The monk seeing
> in states of becoming
> no essence,
> as he would,
> when surveying a fig tree,
> no flowers,
> sloughs off the near shore & far --
> as a snake, its decrepit old skin.
>
> And by Nyanaponika, into English:
>
> He who does not find core or substance
> in any of the realms of being,
> like flowers which are vainly sought
> in fig trees that bear none,
> -- such a monk gives up the here and the beyond,
> just as a serpent sheds its worn-out skin.
>
> And into German:
>
> Wer in den Daseinsformen Wesenskern nicht findet,
> Wie einer, der auf Feigenbäumen Blüten sucht,
> Ein solcher Mönch gibt beide Seiten auf,
> Wie eine Schlange alte, abgenutzte Haut.
>
> Now I know nothing about Ficus Glomerata, which is the
> meaning of "udumbara" according to the PTS dictionary;
> but I have never heard of a tree bearing fruits
> without having flowers first.
>
> So is this tree really an exception?
>
> Or was it a popular belief when the text was created
> that fig trees don't have flowers? (Nothing strange
> about that, in that case - Linnaeus put mushrooms and
> worms in the same category, and the authors of the
> Edda thought that bears don't have sinews.)
>
> Or might the original meaning of "udumbara" have been
> some plant that really doesn't have flowers, e. g. a
> fern?
>
> Gunnar
>
> gunnargallmo@...
>
>
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