Took a walk this morning and found a fig tree behind an abandoned house that's up for sale. I couldn't resist taking a couple of cuttings.  This tree appears to be very old, as the trunk is 10"- 12" thick.  There were a few old, dried figs on it.  They were small, dark, thin-skinned, and with a dark red flesh.  Or at least it appeared so.  Because I cut it open with my clippers, I didn't taste it.  The tree had a few leaves remaining on it:

 

Ronde de Bordeaux has similar leaves....  Hopefully its related to this great tasting vatiety.

Thanks, Armando.  Yes, I'm hoping it is, too!

Violet De Bordeaux has

Brunswick/magnolia

Hadn't thought of Brunswick, but the leaf sure is similar.  Thanks!

Violet de Bordeaux is another good possibility, thanks, Scott!

Nero 600m

Maybe hard to know from a dried out fig, but isn't Brunswick a pretty good sized fig?

What a nice find . Ed is right,does not sound like a Brunswick , Nero and Ronde are both a good guess, it looks like a special tree regardless. Good luck on your effort saving it.

Thanks!  I've compared the leaf to a couple of my little figs, and the leaf seems a bit more like the RdB than the Nero.  It has 5 full lobes.  I've looked at photos of the Brunswick, and the leaf looks similar to that, too.  The figs remaining on the tree were dried, but they were definitely small.  They were very dark, flesh dark red, very thin skin.  Would that lean it toward an RdB type?  Would that be a fig one might be likely to find in an old neighborhood?  I'd say the house was built early 1900s, and the tree is really old.

Not sure if it is the photo lighting or is this fig leaf much darker green than Brunswick.

     

More photos of the tree, leaves, and the figs.  The fig has a closed eye.  

Those figs look too small and too dark to be Brunswick though that was my first thought too when I saw the leaves.  There is a family of dark figs with leaves like that though including Nero600m and others.  It looks like it is well worth propagating.  By the way, what part of the country do you live in JoAnn and what can you tell us about the make-up of the neighborhood (in terms of immigration over the years)?

Hi, Steve,
I am in Hayward, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area.  The neighborhood is on the older side (for California, anyway) there are a few remaining Victorian houses that would date it back to about the turn of the century (1880 -1900).  This house appears to have been built in the earlier part of the 1900s.  In terms of immigration, I'd say predominantly Portuguese in those earlier years, many of them from the Azores.  Most of the old figs around here are Black Missions, so this old one caught my eye because it is clearly different.

Looks like a nice size tree,and a potential for a special fig ......LOL

Petite Negri has similar leaves too.  Hard to tell with those fruit because they look immature and shape seems to vary on them, maybe because they're at different points developmentally.

Thanks Joann. Here's what it looks like as of this morning. My most favorite cutting.

Chris, I love your SIP! Do you root a green cutting (taken from non-dormant plant) the same way you root a cutting from a plant going into dormancy?

Thanks Luigiwu. I only use those 2 lb bottle minis. They work great. I ve never tried growing a green cutting but there are a couple of nice videos on YouTube . I think you clip half of each leaf off ( if any leaves on the cutting) put it in clean water and keep in a shady warm place.

Here's the (kit) lol. The clear top piece is the dome. Both caps have holes on them.

Chris, it's doing beautifully!  The ones you sent me are doing well, too!  Thanks!

Hey Joann and friends. Here's a latest update with pics on the unknown. It's been developing very well with a leaf patern that resembles my Negronne the most. I don't know what the Mission fig leaves look like in Cali so I can't say if it's a mission or not. It has reddish stem tips and a few late late figs are showing up on one of the three and the most vigorous of the cuttings. Please chime in with your guesses and thanks for reading.
It is still one of my favorite cuttings. Many thanks Joann.

The tree in the fourth photo is the little cutting from post #17!

Hi, Chris,
Thanks for the pix!  I kept several of the 7th St. cuttings myself, and there are already have little figs on a few of them.  One is still sitting in a drink cup, and it has several little figs on it.  I have come to the same conclusion as you did -- I also think it is a Negronne / Violet de Bordeaux.  My experience so far is that it roots easily, it is fairly vigorous, and looks like it might be pretty generous with the figs.  Figs are dark.  I'm just waiting for the figs to ripen up!
The Chestnut cuttings, I'm pretty sure, are black mission.  The leaves are different, from one big leaf with no lobes, to the more normal rounded 3-lobed leaf.  They were really slow to root, and not very fast growers.  The figs had better be good, or else...

Photos attached:  First two are my 7th St. cuttings.  I started these in Feb. or March.  The third pic is of a cutting I took from my nursery Black Mission.   I took that cutting last September.  Lots of leaf shape variation.  The 4th and 5th are Chestnut St. cuttings also taken last September.  Took months for them to root.
            

Thanks for the reply Joann and good to hear from you again. Your 7th street cuttings definitely look Neg- VDB . Very good find . Please don't forget to post pics of the ripe fruit. The chestnut st cutting shows signs of FMV . Mine was badly infected from the start. Took a while to root and is still struggling but I'll give it a chance and see if it survives the winter. Thanks again for the cuttings and for sharing the very nice photos:)