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Ficus sycomorus, called the sycamore fig or the fig-mulberry (because the leaves resemble those of the mulberry), sycamore, or sycomore, is a ficus species that has been cultivated since ancient times.
Flowering and fruiting occurs year-round, starting in April or later depending on variety, peaking from July to December. The fruit is a large edible fig, 2–3 cm in diameter, ripening from buff-green to yellow or red. It is borne in thick clusters on long branchlets or the leaf axil. It is sometimes separated into five successive "crops".
The name sycamore spelled with an A has also been used for unrelated trees: the great maple, Acer pseudoplatanus, or plane trees, Platanus. The spelling "sycomore", with an O rather than an A as the second vowel is, if used, specific to F. sycomorus.
In modern history, many Egyptians would once a year (on the day of a particular saint) make a ring of bruises and cuts around the base of their sycamore trees.
According to botany Daniel Zohary and Maria Hopf, cultivation of this species was "almost exclusively" by the . Remains of F. sycomorus begin to appear in predynastic times and occur in quantity from the start of the third millennium BC. It was the ancient Egyptian tree of life. (2025). 9780801442414, Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801442414 Zohary and Hopf note that "the fruit and the timber, and sometimes even the twigs, are richly represented in the of the Egyptian Early, Middle and Late Kingdoms." In numerous cases the parched fruiting bodies, known as Syconium, "bear characteristic gashing marks indicating that this art, which induces ripening, was practised in Egypt in ancient times."
Although this species of fig requires the presence of the symbiotic wasp Ceratosolen arabicus to reproduce sexually, and this insect is extinct in Egypt, Zohay and Hopf have no doubt that Egypt was "the principal area of sycamore fig development." Some of the caskets of mummies in Egypt are made from the wood of this tree. In tropical areas where the wasp is common, complex mini-ecosystems involving the wasp, nematodes, other parasitic wasps, and various larger predators revolve around the life cycle of the fig. The trees' random production of fruit in such environments assures its constant attendance by the insects and animals which form this ecosystem.
Sycamores were often planted around artificial pools in ancient Egyptian gardens..
The sycamore tree was brought to Israel by Philistines during the Iron Age, along with opium poppy and cumin... These sycamore trees used to be numerous in western Beirut, lending their name to the neighborhood of Gemmayzeh ((الْجُمَّيْزَة ), "sycamore fig"). However, the trees have largely disappeared from this area.
In El Matareya, there is a sycamore known as the Tree of the Virgin, which serves as a pilgrimage site. It is not the same tree; instead, when the previous tree that stands in this spot dies, a new one is planted from cuttings of the old tree. It is said that the Holy Family took refuge in this tree. The Coptic pope Theophilus also recounted that Joseph had a walking stick, which an infant Jesus broke. When Joseph buried the pieces of the stick, a sycamore grew forth and provided shelter.
In modern Egyptian folklore, the sycamore retains an association with mysticism and magic. In the story "It Serves Me Right!", it is used to represent the Tree of Lifespans. The fruit from this tree dries up at the end of a life, but is fresh when one still has more life to live. Therefore, the inhabitants of a land found at the bottom of a well in the story only eat the dry, bad sycamore fruits and leave the good ones alone.
In Kikuyu people, the sycomore is a sacred tree. All sacrifices to Ngai (or Murungu), the supreme creator, were performed under the tree. Whenever the mugumo tree fell, it symbolised a bad omen and rituals had to be performed by elders in the society. Some of those ceremonies carried out under the Mugumo tree are still observed.
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