Fig (Common)

Ficus carica L. (Moraceae – Mulberry family)

A description of the fig tree seems superfluous to anybody who lives or has travelled on the Mediterranean, however, for completeness (and for interesting facts you didn’t know that might get you some points in a pub quiz)…

The common fig is a large shrub or small tree native to southwestern Asia and the eastern Mediterranean region (Greece east to Afghanistan). It is deciduous, monoecious (male and female flowers on same plant), may grow 4.5 – 6 m in height, with numerous spreading branches and trunk that may sometimes reach up to 2 m in diameter. The bark is smooth. The outer bark is silvery grey or ash-colored, exfoliated with irregular rounded flakes. The root system is typically shallow and spreading. (Badgujar et al., 2014).

Leaves: large (even up to 30 cm in length), bright green, single, alternate, palmate, deeply lobed, rough on the upper surface, soft hairs on the underside.

Fruit (“figs”): Pear-shaped, green when immature, purple or brown when ripe, with a thick tough peel, white on the inside, which often cracks on ripening, exposing the pulp beneath. The fig fruit is is essentially a fleshy stem containing within it numerous flowers, the ovaries of which are the seeds. The pulp has the appearance of many tiny whitish/yellowish balls (the seeds) and white filaments all embedded in red jelly. The edible seeds are generally hollow, unless pollinated. Pollinated seeds provide the characteristic nutty taste of dried figs. The interior portion is a white, inner ring containing a seed mass bound with jelly-like flesh. The fig fruit has at its end an a small opening to admit wasp pollinators, attracted by its sweet scent.

The young leaf and fruit stalks contain a white, milky latex containing an enzyme which breaks down proteins. It has been used as a wart remover. Some people are allergic to fig latex. It can cause itchy, painful dermatitis that can become worse when exposed to sunlight. If you are allergic to latex, be sure to wear long sleeves and gloves when harvesting figs.

Fig trees are commonly cultivated in warm and dry climates. They are in flower from June to September, and the seeds ripen from August to September.

The Common fig is widely grown for its edible fruit throughout its natural range in Iran, as well as in the rest of the Mediterranean region, and in other areas of the world with a similar climate. The East Mediterranean region is considered to be the area of the common fig domestication, and from there the cultivation spread to the West Mediterranean area, where fig populations were already present in natural habitats before domestication. The process of domestication resulted in sweeter and bigger fruits. (Verberic & Mikulic-Petkovsek, 2016).

The leaves, fruit, latex and buds may be used for medicine.

Traditional Uses in Spain

The latex was used to treat warts and verrucas.
For coughs: Syrup of figs made with honey, milk or water in which carob water (water in which carob “beans” have been boiled).
Figs were eaten when a person had throat, chest or urinary complaints.
Boiled water of figs gargled for sore throat.
For sore throats a poultice was sometimes made with fig juice, yoghurt, honey and onion, covered and held in place with a scarf for a couple of hours.
For ear ache and tinnitus crushed ripe figs were mixed with crushed mustard leaves and some of the mixture was put into the ear.
Fig latex mixed with egg yolk put into the vagina was supposed to stimulate menstruation.
Dried figs for constipation.
Burns were treated with cooked figs either alone or mixed with flour.
Cooked figs were also applied to boils.

Vital Qualities in Traditional Medicine

The fresh fruit is Cooling and harmonising, while the dried fruit is considered Warming in different ways and tonic. Fig fruit are Moistening so far as the gastrointestinal tract is concerned, but Drying to the blood. Fig leaf taken internally is Drying.

When To Use It

Historical

The Greek botanist and physician Dioscorides [1] had much to say about figs. He says that when eaten fresh they loosen the bowels, quench thirst, and are cooling (by causing perspiration) but bring out pimples and may cause stomach upsets. Dried, they are warming and help the bowels to function but cause thirst. They are nourishing and good for people “who have a poor colour from a long illness”, for which I read anaemia, which often accompanies chronic illness. Figs are good for chronic chest complaints, especially when boiled with hyssop and taken as a drink. A decoction of figs is gargled to relieve tonsillitis and drunk to reduce inflammation of the arteries (arteritis). Crushed boiled figs reduce lumps, boils and glandular swellings. Boiled in wine with barley meal and wormwood they were used as a poultice for oedema (fluid swelling). Burnt and put into a wax ointment they “cure chilblains”. Raw figs crushed and mixed with “moist mustard” (I am supposing the pounded leaves) was put into the ears to treat tinnitus. Fig latex taken as a drink with pounded almonds raises boils (I sense from his writing that he considered this to be a good thing – perhaps to release “heat” or toxins), to open the pores, loosen the bowels and “relax the womb”. Mixed with egg yolk or wax and applied to the vagina it “expels the menstrual flow”. It was used as a poultice for gout when mixed with fenugreek flowers and vinegar. A poultice of fig latex mixed with polenta clears “spots made by the heat of the sun” and cures skin infections and infestations. Dabbed onto tooth cavities it relieves toothache. It also removes warts (mixed with animal fat). Both unripe figs and fig latex applied externally relieve insect stings and bites. Applied as a poultice with vinegar and salt unripe figs heal pustules and ulcers on the head, as well as dandruff. A lye (an alkaline liquid used for cleansing) is made by steeping the ashes of burnt fig branches. It has astringent properties. Applied to the skin frequently with a sponge it cleans and closes wounds and weeping sores. As a suppository or drunk (mixed with a little oil) it helps dysentery and intestinal disorders. Taken by mouth it is an antidote to the bite of the “harvest spider”. Mixed with oil it is a good ointment for sore tendons. Several other nowadays less commonplace uses are listed by Dioscorides.

I have a lot of time for Dioscorides because he seems to have been a down-to-earth practical man, meticulous about cataloguing the actual popular uses of plants rather than theorising.

Modern

Traditionally around the world fig fruit, leaves, latex and even bark have been used for an extraordinarily wide variety of ailments. Those listed below are the most commonly cited, as well as those backed by science to some degree:

Fruit

Constipation, chronic illness, convalescence, anaemia, chronic coughs, bronchitis.

Externally: Tonsillitis, sore throat, swellings, oedema, insect stings and bites, boils, ulcers.

Leaves

Chronic coughs, bronchitis, poor digestion, diabetes, bacterial infections, inflammation, fever, liver disorders, to protect the liver against chemotherapy or toxins (e.g. excess alcohol), diabetes, high blood cholesterol, hyperlipidaemia, worms.

Externally: Haemorrhoids.

Latex

Although fig latex has been used traditionally for internal complaints, I advise against taking it internally because it is an irritant to the digestive tract and I can find no information as to its correct dosing or safety.

Externally: Fungal skin infections, warts, verrucas, corns, bleeding wounds, insect stings and bites, toothache.

Other

The buds, prepared as a glicerite, used by European phytotherapists and naturopaths for digestive disturbances, particularly those with a strong psychological component.

Signatures (memory aids)

The fig is sweet: fig leaves are antidiabetic.
The fig is pear-shaped like a fat person. this is the Earth elment in Chinese medicine. Earth element = flesh (the fig fruit is nourishing), also the pancreas (the fig leaf can be used for diabetes).
The inner fruit resembles bed of worms: fig leaves can be used against intestinal parasites
The leaves are lobed, like the liver, and the fig leaf is

When and How to Harvest

Some historical uses call for unripe figs (see Dioscorides above). Otherwise figs are picked when they are nicely purple and have softened but preferably before they split. Figs may be dried in the following way. Cut them in half lengthway then put them onto a wire rack and into an oven preheated to 110ºC preferably fan forced. Preheat oven to 120C/100C fan-forced. Bake them for 6 hours or until they have dried. Keep an eye on them in case they begin to burn on the surface, in which case open the oven door for a minute to let some heat out, put the figs lower in the oven, turn down the heat and to continue to cook them until they are ready. They should still be soft, not baked hard. Judge the consistency from what you know from shop-bought ones.

Fig leaves are best harvested when young.

The sap (latex) can be used to dab on warts, verrucas, stings and such like directly from a broken leaf stalk.

Easy Household Use

Fresh or dried figs: 2-6 figs/d.

Dried leaves (see “How to Dry Herbs” here) can be used to make a decoction (see here) or a tincture (here). These are taken at the standard doses.

Both leaves and fruit may be used to make a poultice for external applications.

When Not to Use It

Eating too many figs may cause diarrhoea.

Fig leaves or fruit may lower your blood sugar, so if you are taking medicine for diabetes take care to monitor your blood sugar (glycaemia) closely.

Fig latex is an irritant. It is not advisable to take it internally. Avoid using it on healthy skin, or on skin affected by inflammatory diseases like dermatitis.

[1] Pedanius Dioscorides (AD40-90), a Greek botanist and physician employed by the Roman army. On his postings he would document in drawings and extensive writings the local medicinal plants and their popular uses. His opus magnum is the five-volume De Materia Medica (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedanius_Dioscorides.)