..........really die inside a fig, and get digested by it? Sounds gross, & dunno if I believe it. Is somebody indulging in a bit of leg-pulling here?

And if that really happens, what does the wasp get out of that 'transaction'? It can't be reproduction, coz I've never found any wasp eggs in my figs, so what's with this story?

EDIT: PS Oh yeah, plse excuse the ignorance, or naivete, if that's what it is.

if they are pollinating, presumably they get something to eat.

yeah, it's true, but wasps only exist in california, here.

So ours manage to ripen without these wasps then? In which case, why do yours need them? And if they get a meal out of it, that sounds like a poor trade for losing their life.  

The simple version:  http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/pollinator-of-the-month/fig_wasp.shtml

The truth:  http://waynesword.palomar.edu/pljune99.htm  or

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/arbimg10.htm  or

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ww0701.htm#Fig if the top part is too much scroll down to male role #1 and go from there.

Basically the wasps develop inside the figs and can't develop anywhere else.  They pollinate the fig flowers as they go about their life cycle.

Smyrna figs need the wasp to ripen any figs, San Pedro figs (like Desert King) can ripen their breba crop on their own but need a wasp for their main crop.  Common figs, like most of the ones we discuss here, can ripen main and/or breba without a wasp.  The only way to get viable seeds is from wasp pollination.

Thx Bob - So it's true then; who woudda thunk it? Those are useful links, & I'm learning new stuff all the time. 

The wasps live near the Mediterranean and the southern 2/3rds of California.  If you live in London, CA, USA you probably have the wasp.  England or Ontario, Canada, not so much.

So does that mean my cuttings from Greece won't produce figs that ripen here in the UK? That would be quite a bummer after all the effort bringing them over & nurturing them over the last couple of years - esp. my Gk Yellow. Plse don't tell me I'm gonna have to trash it after all that.