The folks at the NCGR & UC Davis published a paper in 2010 showing the genetic relatedness of 194 figs in their collection.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2860561/pdf/10709_2010_Article_9442.pdf

In a number of cases, they found certain figs to be the same at the level of discrimination their testing allowed. There was both agreement with the "sameness" and disagreement for a couple of the cases in the responses after my initial post. There is a ton of experience on this forum with many (most? all?) of these cultivars. I would really be interested in peoples' experiences with these cultivars noted as "the same" and why you believe them to be the same or not the same.

Figs found to be the "same" by the SSR markers are:

Lemon, Dokkar, LSU Everbearing, White Texas Everbearing, Kadota and Trojano

Archipel, Malcoms Super Giant, Drap Dor, and Encanto Brown Turkey

Vista, Beers Black and Violette de Bordeaux 

Verte and Calverte

Paradiso, Monstrueuse and Ischia Green

Sal's, Dark No. 1 Portuguese and Abruzzi

Genoa White, Harvey Adriatic and Genoa

Brunswick, Rattlesnake, Capitola Long, Doree and Red Italian

Gulbun and Jurupa

Deanna, Orphan, UCR 278-128 and Algerian Watts

Panachee and Italian 256

Brown Turkey, CA Brown Turkey, Walker, Braun Turkey, Black Jack and Blue Giant

Pastiliere and Rouge de Bordeaux

Adriatic and Lamperia

White San Pedro and Italian 372

Italian 258 and Italian 320

Col de Dame and Maho

San Petro and Yougo 7

Santa Cruz Dark and Giant Amber

Noire de Caromb, Cuello Dama Negro and Charles Allen

San Joao and Roscoff

Afgan A and Caucasus 3

Marabout and UCR 291-4

Roeding and Capri A

Some of these are rarely, if ever, discussed on this forum. Opinions from the many voices of experience here will really help those of us working on their fig collections.

Good luch with your trees!

Interesting. Rescued a brunswick, and Rattlesnake is on my UCD order.

Suzi

This report has been discussed here since the day it came out (in one or two threads ;))

The tests are done to a certain level - it is best to say these varieties are "genetically related" and if you look at several, you will understand why - many share common characteristics - like Brown Turkey, Blue Giant and Black Jack - only major difference is skin color IMHO.

I'm pretty happy and willing to test Brunswick vs Rattlesnake Island to see if there are any differences at all, and what they are.  If my UC Davis RI cuttings arrive and they root, I've already got the Brunswick.

Suzi

Lemon, Dokkar, LSU Everbearing, White Texas Everbearing, Kadota and Trojano

Can't see WTE, Kadota and Trojano being the same, esp Kadota.

Archipel, Malcoms Super Giant, Drap Dor, and Encanto Brown Turkey

Archipel, EBT and Drap d'Or definitely not the same here.

Vista, Beers Black and Violette de Bordeaux 

This is quite possible.

Verte and Calvert

This is quite possible.

Paradiso, Monstrueuse and Ischia Green

These 3 are not the same here.

Sal's, Dark No. 1 Portuguese and Abruzzi

Quite possible - or closely related.

Genoa White, Harvey Adriatic and Genoa

Brunswick, Rattlesnake, Capitola Long, Doree and Red Italian

Don't know Doree, but the others are very similar.

Gulbun and Jurupa

Maybe, but doubt it.

Deanna, Orphan, UCR 278-128 and Algerian Watts

Deanna, Orphan, UCR 278-128 are similar

Panachee and Italian 256

That should be easy - haven't see Italian 256

Brown Turkey, CA Brown Turkey, Walker, Braun Turkey, Black Jack and Blue Giant

All similar

Pastiliere and Rouge de Bordeaux

Adriatic and Lamperia

White San Pedro and Italian 372

Italian 258 and Italian 320

Col de Dame and Maho

San Petro and Yougo 7

Santa Cruz Dark and Giant Amber

Could be.

Noire de Caromb, Cuello Dama Negro and Charles Allen

San Joao and Roscoff

Afgan A and Caucasus 3

This is possible.

Marabout and UCR 291-4

Possible.

Roeding and Capri A

A caprifig is a caprifig by looks, pretty much.

Why does the Sesame Street tune "One of These Things is Not Like The Other" keep running through my head here? :)

Maybe you haven't grown up, yet? ;-))

Jon,
Remember we are not required to grow up, just to grow old.
"gene"

Point taken.

Jon - Thanks!!! I, and I bet many others, really appreciate your insights. If I remember correctly from a previous post, you still feel Vista is superior to VdB and Orphan is superior to Deanna despite their similarities. Have you discussed any of your opinions about "sameness" with Malli Aradhya or any of the others in the fig group at UC Davis? Do you know of a facility where one could send some leaves and get testing done on figs not in the NCGR?

I don't have much faith in UCD DNA test results.  For some figs, they could be the same.  This is why I have so many fig trees.  I want to know for myself and then refer back to the UCD report and see what that report shows. 

For, Lemon, Dokkar, LSU Everbearing, White Texas Everbearing, Kadota and Trojano.
I have all of these except Dokkar.  Lemon is definately not the same.  My LSU E, WTE, Kadota, and Trojano are not the same.  I do have a small WTE which gave me one small fig this year but in my opinion, a fig tree need to be fully grown for a valid comparsion.  I have some cuttings given to me by friends that rooted.  I will compare all these and have a complete set of data in years to come.

For, Vista, Beers Black and Violette de Bordeaux, I really don't want to discuss this.  I have each of these in my orchard, some are in a pot.  They might be the same.  I really don't know.  In a few more years, I will have more data gathered.  If they are the same, I'm going to have a burn party next year because I got several of these and love the taste.

For, Verte and Calvert.....I really don't know.  I have 2 Calverts.  Both are suffering with FMV and are pretty small.  But my Vertes are excellent tasting.

For Brunswick, Rattlesnake, Capitola Long, Doree and Red Italian, the jury isn't out yet for me.  I only have Brunswick, Rattlesnake Island and Capitola Long.  I love the rich flavor of Brunswick but have not tasted the others so they could be the same.

For Gulbun and Jurupa, I'm not sure.  Some say Conadria and Gulbun are the same.  I have all three but need more time to test and compare.  All of these are in pots but I plan on installing Gulbun and Jurupa in my orchard for more comparison testing.  More to come.

The Brown Turkeys and Callie Brown Turkey IN CALLIE might be the same.  At UCD they are excellent tasting and hard to tell the difference between the 2.

 Southeastern Brown Turkey...those that I have found are medium size figs and have a good taste. 

Black Jack, Texas Blue Giant and Black Spanish might be the same in my opinion.  I grow them side by side and in my climate they look the same and taste the same and hard to kill.  All 3 are super hardy and the figs are large...larger than my Southeastern Brown Turkeys.

Paradiso, Monstrueuse and Ischia Green are not the same in my climate.  All 3 taste great but my Paradiso is a large fig compared to the other 2 which are medium size.  Paradiso in my climate is above excellent.  Monstrueuse ripen earlier than the others in my climate too.  My GI is very close to my Verte, Battaglia Green and Strawberry.  All 4 are excellent in my climate.

As for Sal's, Dark No. 1 Portuguese and Abruzzi, I do not have Abruzzi but Sal's and Dark Port might be the same.  My DP figs are smaller but have a super fantastic taste!

I have faith in their testing, based on the caveat they included in the document - which, if you haven't read it, you should, that way you actually understand what they tested for and how.  I won't spoil the mystery for you.