Fig

Ficus carica

Moraceae

A Mediterranean hollow fruit that is not a fruit in the usual way — an inside-out flower you eat when it droops.

Ripe fruit is food. Sap is a latex that burns some skin in sun — not a tea.

Parts used: Ripe fruit
Traditional notes: Kitchen fruit · Dried winter fruit · Traditional Mediterranean staple
Grow · USDA 6b: Tree, USDA 7–10 in ground; a pot you can roll in north, or a protected wall. A cutting of a named common fig. ‘Chicago Hardy’ and ‘Celeste’ are the usual northern bets. In work: Jul · Aug · Sep
Harvest: When it droops, softens, and often weeps a drop. They do not ripen off the tree.

A south wall is a climate.
Net the birds or you are growing for them.

Safety

Sap in the eyes Known fig allergy (sometimes with latex)

Companions

Plant with Rosemary.

Lore

Sumer already had it. The Greek and Hebrew canons use it as a household tree. The wasp story is true for some types and irrelevant for the common figs in a backyard. Spanish missions planted it in California. A dried fig in a winter pocket is older than sugar.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.