The figs that usually end up on our table are not a fruit but a flower. Their trees do not flower like apples and peaches, but their flowers bloom inside the pod that ripens into the product we eat. Each flower then produces a single hard-shelled fruit called an achene, which gives the fig the crunch we know. The fig is made up of multiple achenes, so when we eat one, we are actually consuming more fruit.
Figs have a unique characteristic. Since the flowers bloom from the inside, they need a special process for pollination. They can't just rely on the wind or bees to spread their pollen, but a specific creature has to do it: the fig wasp or Blastophaga psenes. Only this insect is suitable for fig fertilization. And the fig tree is the only tree suitable to allow the life of insects.
