Male flowers in Caprifigs

Rob

Rob

Member
As we all know, there are male flowers in Caprifigs, but reading pretty much any online material, it is almost always mentioned that they are situated in about the bottom 1/3 of the syconia, and while that is true, it is certainly not the only place that they can be, as a few pictures here clearly show. I have to wonder why they make blanket statements like that, and of course the first time anyone notices any difference, they assume there is something wrong with their tree for producing incorrect looking Caprifigs. Of course I am assuming that these differences are not just seen here, but worldwide. These are all from different trees and taken by me, and I do have more.
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W.P. Armstrong had a limited collection of caprifigs. His 2002 drawing (possibly by his wife) of Caprifig and Common fig syconia was widely circulated -- especially in the 2007 article by Stover et al. It shows the male stamens towards the bottom.

Looking elsewhere:
I see the same is true of a 1978 drawing from UC Agricultural Sciences, appearing in The Fig (2022) page 22.
But on page 52 of Advances in Fig Research (2022), stamens are visible in the upper portion of the Caprifig picture.
 
Yes, as I did explain that most sites, papers, whatever, for some strange reason, only mention this area, so I am thinking maybe most people chose not to see it, or are ignorant of it. What I was hoping for is some physical evidence, photos as I have shown etc. to indicate that this is common, or at least noted in other areas. Sorry, I was not clear enough.
 
I understood what you meant. I've no idea why the majority of illustrations in academic journals show the stamens at the bottom of the Caprifig cavity. But the photograph in Flaishman's chapter shows otherwise.
 
Some Capri have almost all male flowers. And most likely not good for the wasp. Some seem to have them at the 4 and 5 o'clock position or the 7 to 8 position. I think as Richard said about Armstrong and I believe we may have talked about this before. If seems a lot of the old text was based on a very few. Or just from one area. We have a lot to learn still.
 
"Some Capri have almost all male flowers. And most likely not good for the wasp."
Ira Condit discussed this, and also mentioned the role of "blanks". I don't recall any illustrations or photos. Condit's articles are also very tedious reading, so I don't fault anyone for having missed his discussion.

"We have a lot to learn still."
Absolutely.
 
@"Charlie Dodgson"#164 I will read up on that again when I get home. I have one Capri that sometimes kinda fully ripens a fig. What I mean by kinda. Is the profichi will grow to full size. The fig will look and feel the same as it does when wasp are around. But the flowers never develop. It is very odd. To me that would be called a blank.
 
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