How do we know when pollen will be mature in a caprifig?

[Rob]

It is often asked by hand pollinatiors, when is the best time to pick a caprifig to collect pollen, and again in Condit's 1947 book he nailed it here, well almost.....he does mention that inhabited caprifigs are green when mature, but of course, as he noted in his 1955 book, not all mature caprifigs have green skin, we see, yellow, green, brown to black, and some striped, like these below, and much darker. He also mentions that inhabited, and uninhabited profichi produce pollen, and it seems he must have been referring to parthenocarpic caprifigs, since most uninhabited caprifigs are aborted before maturity. He also mentions that pollen matures just before wasps are ready to leave the fig, and although this is mainly the case, on many occasions I have cut caprifigs open to find many wasps out of their galls, and pollen is not yet shedding from the male anthers.

Condit I. J. The Fig.3pdf.png

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I put together this collage in late 2024.