Fig

The fig is the edible fruit of Ficus carica, the common fig, a species of tree or shrub in the mulberry family native to the Mediterranean region and to western and southern Asia, cultivated since ancient times and now grown widely throughout the world; Ficus carica is the type species of the genus Ficus, which comprises over 800 tropical and subtropical plant species. The fig plant is a deciduous tree or large shrub growing up to 7 to 10 meters tall with smooth white bark and large, deeply lobed leaves, and its teardrop-shaped fruit, 3 to 5 centimeters long, ripens from green toward purple or brown, with sweet, soft, reddish flesh containing numerous small seeds; in the Northern Hemisphere fresh figs are in season from early August to early October.