Introduction

Figs have evolved into over 800 different species, making the Ficus genus one of the most populous in number of species of all plant genera. Edible gs gure prominently in both human and animal nutrition around the globe in parts warm and moist enough to sustain them. The diversity in the number of species concerning their morphology is exceptional, a range extending from small bushes to massive and undoubtedly the widest single trees, the curtain and banyan trees (Ficus benghalensis); and also diversity within a single species, for example, Ficus carica, the common g of commerce, with thousands upon thousands of cultivars spread throughout

the Levant, Mediterranean, Indian subcontinent, Far East, Latin America, Texas, and Southern California, especially.