ANCIENT AND MODERN OCCURRENCES OF COMMON FIG (FICUS-CARICA L) IN THE BRITISH-ISLES

Knowledge of the reproductive biology of the common fig (Ficus carica) is essential for the interpretation of present and past occurrences o f pips from archaeological layers as well as for understanding the sta tus of trees, cultivated or wild. Only parthenocarpic varieties ripen figs in Britain and these cannot produce fertile pips. Common figs gro wing wild in Britain all come from pips from imported figs, often figs that had been eaten and the pips evacuated. There are many discoverie s of pips from Roman and later urban and military sites in Britain. Th ese pips too were derived from imported figs and not from locally cult ivated trees. There is no proof that the Romans grew common fig in Bri tain and the earliest documentary evidence of cultivation is as late a s the 15th century A.D. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd