MEASUREMENTS OF THE DIAMETER OF THE FIG STEM (FICUS CARICA) IN ROMANIA FOR SIX YEARS SHOW THE TRANSITION FROM A SMALL SHRUB TO A TREE-LIKE PLANT.

The fig tree, Ficus carica L., 1753, is a woody species native to southwest Asia, common in the Mediterranean area. Although it sporadically appeared as a spontaneous plant in southern and southeastern Romania, it hardly survives the cold season. Therefore, in central and northern Romania it appeared mostly as a small shrub. This paper aims to signal the expansion of the species to the north, as a result of climate change in the region (Transylvania). Our studies are based on measuring and tracking the dynamics of stem diameter each winter for six years (2016 - 2021). The experimentally planted fig plants in Cluj - Napoca show an increase in the diameter of the stem in the last four years to a size that will allow them to withstand the frost of winter. Thus, from a creeping shrub (Ficus carica L., 1753), the plant begins to take on the appearance of a tree with erect stems. Measurement data are presented in the paper. Even if global warming is considered by some authors to be a fact, and by others a spontaneous geological trend and only with regional effects, we can say that, at the country level, climate warming is certain in Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]