Re: fig tree in Israel?

Sean A. O'Hara wrote:
>  Ralph Matthews wrote:
>
>> Please tell me: Is the Fig tree native to Israel? Ralph
>
>
> Hi Ralph -
>
> For a fruit that has been cultivated since before 7000BC, this is
> likely very difficult to establish with certainty.  But many
> references point to the modern regions of Syria and Afghanistan for
> the nativity of Ficus carica, the cultivated fig.  Other references
> mention the specific epithet, carica, referring to the ancient region
> of Caria, which seems to lie in Asia minor between the Mediterranean
> and Black Seas.  I've seen some references mention the city
> Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, on the South-West Agean coast of Turkey)
> as the capital of Caria.  The fig is the first tree mentioned in the
> bible.  Because of its importance as food, this species has been
> spread the various other parts of the world since antiquity.
>

As a matter of interest, the Sycamore tree mentioned in the new Testament (it was the tree said to have been climbed by Zacheus in Jericho to let him get a view of Jesus) may have actually referred to a fig known as the Egyptian Sycamore or Sycomore(Ficus sycomorus) which is apparently a source of a minor edible fruit around the eastern Med..

Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan,
Wainuiomata, North Island, NZ.     Pictures of our garden at:-
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cherie1/Garden/TonyandMoira/index.htm
NEW PICTURES ADDED 4/Feb/2004

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