By the time figs get into hibernation or dormancy, a neighboring shrub starts showing their nice little round fruits of a very attractive orange-red color.

It thrives along all or most of the Med Basin countries and we have a long tradition of distilling this delicacy to produce a highly flavored, fruity and strong spirit (medronho).

In the long and cold winter nights, to warm the souls, people would eat one or two dry, roasted  figs and savor this spirit while watching the popular 'soap operas', the more classy Pavarotti songs or the best of Rachmaninoff.

Francisco

The Scientific name of this plant is Arbutus Unedo.Wonderful fruit colors! Thank You for posting.
I have one sitting in a pot for the second year and no fruits yet.

That looks like a distant relative of a fruiting
Dogwood we have in The U.S..
Is the fruit also eaten, or only distilled?
Is the inside ALL fruit, or does it have a seed?

Pretty fruits. :)

It's not related to dogwood. It's in the Heather family (Ericaceae) - same as blueberries. :)

Arbutus unedo is a common landscape plant here. I used to eat a few when I was a student. It can be trained as either a shrub or a small tree. Very pretty thing. Common name for the genus is madrone.

I did not know the information about the drink 'medronho', though I do love Pavarotti - and named one of the cats Luciano. :)

Here is what the flowers look like (photo from the internet):

Beautiful colors !! I agree - love both Pavarotti and Rachmaninoff .

It's also called a Strawberry tree. I've seen it in the National Arboritum in D.C.http://www.pnwplants.wsu.edu/PlantDisplay.aspx?PlantID=95

Thank you all for commenting on this post

Sas,

Yes that's right it is the Arbutus unedo, fruiting by now and through November typical of the Mediterranean flora.

Rui,

It is different from that tree. It is edible but it has to be well ripe, ..I would say overripe. Be cautious, a hand full of these well ripen fruit may make you strangely 'happy' !? the very light spirits condensing into your system get quickly 'upstairs' !?
Think it has very small seeds, when eating medronhos I eat everything!!
Best way to propagate Arbutos unedo is like figs, with cuttings.

Gina,

Believe that like figs, someone took 'medronhos' to California. The small tree fruits and flowers at the same time. If I am not wrong, ripe fruit are on past season wood and flowers on this year's shoots. It grows all over the country and the 'grappa' is very popular. I also like to hear Luciano and must say that you have a lucky cat

Pattee,

listening 'Nessun dorma' or the 'conciertos 2 or 3' chewing dry figs and sipping a drop of that schnapps is quite an experience!

Potatochips,

Right it has also that name and it is quite nice walking along country roads and see these shrubs loaded with ripe fruit.

Francisco

Yes, A. unedo is from the Mediterranean, as are many of our other garden plants in SoCal.

Along the Pacific coast we have a native species of madrone - Arbutus menziesii. It grows in the mountains above me, but there aren't many of them. They do not make particularly good cultivars. Our Arbutus has similar looking, but smaller fruits, and is not particularly edible.

Here is a map from Wikipedia of the natural range of the California native Arbutus:

I grew up listening to opera. I loved Luciano.

Official tree of Madrid, Spain.

I like Arbutus trees.  They're beautiful.  The California/Oregon ones, and these too.  But I'm especially fond of Rachmaninoff, particularly the piano concertos  (all four of them... I sometimes think I have a favorite among them, and then I hear a good performance of another one -- I like all four).  And that piano prelude in C# minor... wow! it's great to listen to (and I would add, as Frank Zappa once said of a similarly difficult piece, "this is a fun one to play").  So seeing you mention Sergei Rachmaninoff on the fig forum really makes my day!  Hats off to you Francisco.

Mike   central NY state, zone 5a

Francisco good stuff

thanks

Thank you all for your comments and valued contributions to this post.

Once in a while is good to divert to a side road, look and listen.

Francisco

Very interesting fruit Fransisco , Jon you mention this also in Madrid Spain area  ?
I may ask the Mrs if she recognize this.

I grow one along my driveway entrance from the highway.  I've tried the fruit a couple of times but even the worst fig is better, IMO. lol

My cousin has a large old tree in his urban setting at it makes a big mess dropping its fruit on the sidewalk.