Fig

Fig, any of over 600 species of shrubs, trees, and vines (genus Ficus) of the mulberry family, particularly the common fig (F. carica) native to the Mediterranean. The edible fruits, which, when dried, can be used medicinally as laxatives and poultices, are in fact a mass of female flowers enclosed in a fleshy receptacle. The rubber tree (F. elastica) and the weeping fig (F. benjamina) are popular house plants.