Pollen Transfer and Pollination in the Common Fig (Ficus Carica L.)

Summary The traditional ideas, as to how pollination is achieved in the common fig (Ficus carica L.), are untenable because the very narrow entrance slits of the ostiole render it very difficult for the pollen vector (the agaonid wasp Blastophaga psenes L.) to introduce pollen on its body surface into the female receptive fig. The process is now shown to entail: (a) loading of pollen in the polleniferous fig into intersegmental and pleural invaginations which form in the shrunken body of the wasp following water loss; (b) unloading of pollen in the receptive fig, as a result of partial swelling and contortion of the wasp's body during oviposition attempts. Conditions in the cavities of polleniferous and receptive figs are discussed in connection with the pollination process.