Pollination of a cultivated fig, Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang, in South China

Fruits of Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang can be made into jelly, which has been a special delicacy in South China for centuries. We studied the potential for cultivation of F. pumila var. awkeotsang. Young cuttings of F. pumila var. awkeotsang were planted in Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang Cultivation Garden, Dayangke Mountain (long. E 119°03', lat. N 25°42', altitude 420 m). They established easily and plants reached reproductive size after just 3 years. However, although wild populations of F. pumila var. awkeotsang existed 35 km from our plot, and populations of another variety, F. pumila var. pumila, thought to be pollinated by the same wasp, occurred at the site, pollination success was initially zero. Pollination experiments indicated that F. pumila var. awkeotsang is reproductively isolated from F. pumila var. pumila, and that the pollinator of the latter cannot breed in the syconia of the former variety. Deliberate introduction of wild pollinators led to the establishment of a pollinator population in the cultivated plot containing 60 male plants. However, syconia abortion rates were still high (>50%) after four years. This was partly due to the seasonal phenology of F. pumila var. awkeotsang and the low overlap between wasp reproduction and the receptive phases in the fig. We expect pollination rates to increase as the plants get larger, or if more male fig plants are established.