The Commort F. Oxus carica) is a native of the east, as the specific name carica (from caries) imports; but it is now cultivated throughout the whole of the s. of Europe, and is even found naturalized there. Its cultivation has also extended to many warm countries. In North America, it is seldom to be seen further a. than Philadelphia; and it is not sufficiently hardy to be a common fruit tree in Britain, although even in Scotland figs may occasionally be seen ripened on a wall; and in the s. of Ene:land fig-trees are sometimes grown as standards, and a few small F. orchards exist. Protection is always given in some way during winter. Near Paris, and in some other parts of the continent of Europe, fig-trees are so trained that the branches can be tied in bundles and laid along the ground, when they are covered with litter and earth, The F. is a low deciduous tree or shrub, with large deeply lobed leaves, which are rough above, and downy beneath. The branches are clothed with short hairs, and the bark is greenish. The fruit is produced singly in the axils of the leaves, is pear shaped, and has a very short stalk; the color in some varieties is bluish-black; in others, red, purple, yellow, green, or white. The varieties in cultivation are numerous. In warm climates, the F. yields two crops in the year—one from the older wood (midsum
mer shoots of the preceding year), and a second from the young wood (spring shoots of the same year); but in colder regions the latter never comes to perfection. Fig-trees are propagated by seed, by suckers, etc. ; very frequently by layers or by cuttings. In Britain, they are often to be seen in hothouses, and grow well in pots. Dried figs form an important article of food in the Levant; in more northern regions they are used for dessert, or for medicinal purposes, being applied to gumboils and other sores, and also administered in pulmonary and nephritic affections, and to relieve habitual constipa tion. The pulp contains about 62 per cent of a kind of sugar called sugar of figs. Figs are either dried in the sun or in ovens built for the purpose. Great quantities are annu ally imported into Britain from the Mediterranean. The best are mostly brought from Smyrna, and are known as Turkey ,figs, of which those called Eleme or Elena are most highly esteemed. Figs of inferior quality are imported in considerable quantities in the form of fig-cake, pressed along with almonds into cakes somewhat like small cheeses. In the Levant, Portugal, and the Canaries, a spirit is distilled from fermented figs.