Ficus carica fig

Figs high up on the tree behind Jack McDonald Hall (Highland Hall) remain unharvested at the end of the year. Sairus Patel, 29 Dec 2018

Ficus carica leaf. From Trees of Stanford and Environs, Ronald Bracewell

The biblical sycamore was a fig, F. sycomorus. (The sycamores that were gleaming in the candlelight were plane trees, Platanus occidentalis, while in Britain the name sycamore denotes the maple Acer pseudoplatanus.) For examples of Ficus carica in residential gardens visit Campus Drive East at Gerona and 926 Cottrell Way. Occasional escapes from backyards are encountered. There is one in the courtyard north of Memorial Hall, one in the easternmost of the Encina Commons courtyards, and another at the top of Frenchman’s dam near Raimundo Way on the creek that runs down Stanford Avenue.

Name derivation: Ficus – Latin for fig tree; carica – a kind of dried fig, a reference to Caria, Asia Minor.