A Fig Is Actually an Inverted Flower Cluster Inside Out

Botanically speaking, a fig is not a true fruit but a syconium, a hollow, fleshy structure lined on the inside with hundreds of tiny flowers. The flowers are completely enclosed and invisible from the outside, which means they cannot be pollinated by wind, bees, or other typical pollinators. Instead, figs rely on a remarkable partnership with fig wasps that has existed for over 70 million years. Female wasps enter through a small opening, often losing their wings in the process, and pollinate the flowers while laying their eggs. The wingless male wasps that hatch inside chew escape holes for the females before dying. This mutual dependence is so specialized that each fig species typically has its own species of wasp pollinator. Without the wasps, figs cannot reproduce, and without the figs, the wasps have nowhere to lay their eggs.