Ficus carica Linn. (ANJIRA)

Anjira is not described in the classical literature.  It is considered as rajodumbara by some scholars.  Anjir is a known recipe in Unani medicine and is commonly used as a dry fruit in northern India.  It is identified as Ficus carica Linn. Anjira is also considered as phalgu by some scholars but phalgu is identified with kakodumabara of ighant period.  Anjira is not deliniated in the pre as well as the post madanpala period lexicons.

Common fig (Ficus carica) is native to southwest Asia and the eastern Mediterranean region (Greece east to Afghanistan).  It has been an important food crop for thousands of years, and was also thought to be highly beneficial in the diet. The Common Fig is widely grown for its edible fruit throughout its natural range Iran and also in the rest of the Mediterranean region and other areas of the world with a similar climate, including Australia, Chile, South Africa, and California, Oregon, Texas, and Washington in the United States. The edible fig is one of the first plants that were cultivated by humans. Nine subfossil figs of a parthenocarpic type dating to about 9400–9200 BC were found in the early Neolithic village Gilgal I (in the Jordan Valley, 13 km north of Jericho). The find predates the domestication of wheat, barley and legumes, and may thus be the first known instance of agriculture. It is proposed that they may have been planted and cultivated intentionally, one thousand years before the next crops were domesticated (wheat and rye). Figs were also a common foodsource for the Romans.

Botanical description –  Common fig (Ficus carica) is a large, deciduous, shrub or small tree, 3–10 m tall, with smooth grey bark; leaves 12–25 cm long and 10–18 cm across and deeply lobed with three or five lobes; fruit is 3–5 cm long, with a green skin sometimes ripening towards purple; sap of the tree’s green parts is an irritant to human skin.

Part used – fig.

Uses – Figs can be eaten fresh or dried, and used in jam-making. Most commercial production is in dried or otherwise processed forms, since the ripe fruit does not transport well, and once picked does not keep well. In Bengal, the fruit is called Dumur. It is cooked as a vegetable and is believed to be good for heart ailments.