Morphology
The syconium is an urn-shaped receptacle which contains between 50 to 7000 (depending on the species) highly simplified uniovulate flowers or florets on its inner surface. It is closed off from most organisms by the ostiole, formed by bracts.
Syconia can be monoecious or functionally dioecious: the former contain female flowers with variable style length and few male flowers, and produce seeds, wasps, and pollen. The latter have male and female forms in different plants: seed figs contain female flowers with long styles and produce seeds; gall figs contain female flowers with short styles and male flowers and produce pollen and wasps.
Once pollinated, the florets develop into achenes or drupes, in which the seeds are enclosed by a layer of endocarp. From this perspective, the fig is an enclosure with tens to thousands of fruits within it.
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