Common fig
Its flowers are hidden inside the fruit and pollinated by fig wasps, so it offers bees no nectar or pollen; in late summer bees only take juice from split ripe figs.
- Nectar
- None
- Pollen
- None
- Flowering
- Flowering time varies with region and rainfall.
- Height
- 3-10 m
- Life cycle
- Perennial
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The flowers of the common fig are hidden inside the fleshy structure that looks like a fruit from the outside, and they are pollinated only by a tiny wasp called the fig wasp. For this reason honey bees cannot collect nectar or pollen from figs; for beekeeping it does not count as a honey plant.
Flowering
Flowering cannot be seen from the outside; fruit formation continues in waves from spring to late summer. In and around Aydın, growers of drying figs traditionally hang male figs (caprifigs) in the trees for pollination.
Honey and pollen
The fig contributes neither honey nor pollen. In late summer, bees and wasps suck the juice of split, overripe fruit that has begun to ferment.
Note for the beekeeper
If this juice is carried into the comb, it forms a poor-quality store that ferments easily; it cannot be relied on as winter feed. In regions with a heavy fig harvest, robbing can increase during the late-summer dearth, so hive entrances should be reduced.