A fig conceals its flowers. Beneath the skin, what passes for a single fruit begins as a hollow structure whose inner surface carries hundreds of tiny flowers, hidden from the casual observer. The arrangement defeats ordinary expectations. Botanists call this enclosure a syconium, a structure that puts flowering on the inside rather than displaying petals to the outside.
The sweetness disguises the architecture. As a fig develops, its fleshy enclosure surrounds the small fruits formed from individual flowers, so one mouthful contains the products of many separate reproductive structures. Those grains have a history. In fig species that require pollination, specialized wasps enter through a small opening, carrying pollen to flowers that cannot be reached by ordinary visitors. Not every fig needs them. Some cultivated varieties develop edible figs without pollination, a distinction that makes the familiar claim that every fig contains a wasp misleading, even when the underlying partnership is real.
Rosemary makes concealment aromatic. Its leaves bear microscopic glandular trichomes, specialized surface structures that produce and store essential oils containing volatile compounds, including alpha-pinene, camphor and 1,8-cineole, whose proportions vary among plants. The scent has an address. When a leaf is rubbed or crushed, stored oils are released and their volatile components evaporate into the air, allowing a small amount of material to reach the nose. The kitchen misses the machinery. Where the fig encloses its reproductive structures, rosemary places its chemical stores on the leaf surface, beyond unaided sight but close enough for a fingertip to disturb.
