(I will be  talking about two trees I found close to my house, S1 and S2, these are in an empty lot about 75 ft from each other.)

S1:
I just realized this after picking some breba that I thought was ready to drop and hopefully edible. To my disappointment it was neither, well I figured after looking at the inside. I took these off two different branches that had brebas, they were soft and at least two were drooping. What caught my eye was the color, I had visited and collected figs from this tree a week or so ago with immature figs, they were lime green and were really hard, these were very light in color. Immediately I was excited because I could taste something that I might be growing, 9 year old wood cuttings and about 20 new growth cuttings.


S1 Breba ('NOT RIPE'):




S1 Breba ('RIPE'):




More pictures of this tree: http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1268965608&postcount=13


S2:
I manage to reach the another tree at an opposite end of the lot. To my amazement this tree had around 1000+ figs, it was huge, around 15 ft high and maybe 30 ft across. I could not see any breba on the branches and all I could see was main crop. The leaves and figs on this one were very distinct from S1 so I was excited to find maybe two different varieties in very close proximity. So I took a branch with figs and all, after some examination I found this:

Fig clusters:



This is how most of the leaves looked like, 3 lobes some 5's:



And the Figs:


The figs were dark green and unripe, hard and not so big, that was my impression.

Opening some I noticed some critters, I figured they might have been ants because I've gotten some ants on a few branches before.
But then one fig had two, another three, which with two still alive, and one had one that was already dead, which I have here pictured.


The red arrow shows where I found the little guy.
I came back to my computer and started to google 'caprifigs' and 'fig wasps' and just as I thought these were indeed fig wasps.
So I'm sitting here kind of bummed because S1 Breba 'RIPE' had no taste at all and S2 figs had fig wasps in them, two very prominent features of Caprifigs.

I'm no expert, but I do hold advance degrees in Googling and that is the conclusion im getting to. Any input?

It sure looks like it.

Should I even bother rooting any of these trees? I don't even know if any of the figs might turn out edible, I have quite a few cuttings and they're pushing new growth faster than any of my other cuttings, so I'm kind of bummed to see that they might be a Bust.

At this point, they look like caprifigs. However, some of my brebas this year (and years previous to this) look like caprifigs, even though they are clearly not caprifig varieties. I have a paper, that I just received on some aspects of figs that are common, but can behave like caprifigs. I haven't read it yet, but it might explain what you are seeing.

Is there some characteristics that would point out that they are caprifigs? ie. leaves, brebas or lack thereof, how the figs show up on the branch?
Because the two trees are so different in how they develop figs, ie. clusters at the end of the branch vs figs going all along the new growth.

Thanks,

Just something to add if it makes a difference. Here are some pics from Google Maps of the area where I found the trees,



S1 and S2 can be seen in the aerial pic, possibly from around 2009. The circles show where the fig trees are, I don't know anything about the tree next to S1 because I haven't reached that one yet. But, from this picture I can see that S1 is not that old, and if it is its just been cut to the ground several times because the tree suckers out like a shrub.  S2 is much more established and it looks at least 10-15 years old.

Here is S1 as it presently looks

The  way to tell is t look at the interior of the fig. Cut it in half, and shake it. The pollen will fall out of it. That is a caprifig.



Figs only get more complex as you study them.

First there are common, San Pedro, Smryna and caprifigs.

Then there are breba only figs, main crop only figs, two-crop figs, and supposedly some that have three crops.

Then there is the question of persistence, particularly in caprifigs.

Then the issue of long-style flowers and short-style flowers.

Then this comment from Malli at USAD / UC Davis, about some pix I sent that look halfway between common and caprifigs: "It s reported that occasionally common fig progenies do produce male syconia containing fertile short-styled female flowers which are sometime converted in gall flowers by wasps (as we see a picture B17) and the syconium (fig) is sweet and juicy like normal female figs. "

This refers to the article I mentioned, but haven't read yet. As soon as you get a handle on one thing, a new wrinkle pops up.

If yours are wild trees, from seeds, they have a 50% chance of being caprifigs (male).

Thanks a lot Jon, I do believe its a learning curve with these plants.
I was searching through the pictures I took of both what I believe to be RIPE S1 Breba and unripe S1 main crop. Maybe it clears my questions once and for all or not.

This is a closer view of the cross section of one of the RIPE S1 Breba's.






S1 Main Crop UNRIPE


S1 Main Crop Cross section


My Conclusion:
S1 Breba clearly shows short female syconia, with possibility of some male flowers, pollen tip flowers, which is more clearly demonstrated by your picture Jon of what I am assuming to be a true caprifig.
If we just look at this evidence I would rule 100% on it being a caprifig tree.
But wait a minute, S1 main crop is giving me something else. Syconia on these figs are clearly mostly long female syconia, WHAT!!!?? I'm puzzle because long female syconia is evidence of an edible fig, of what I believe they refer as a female fig tree, or Common Fig.
So then we have Malli's comment on the Gall flower phenomena, which I myself find as the only possible answer to my original question.
S1 is a common fig that produces a Breba crop that is like a caprifig, but main crop is that of a female fig tree. Or this is just an edible caprifig.

S2 is a common fig, syconia is long female flowers, as can be seen from the picture with the dead wasp in post #1. Which I am now speculating to be a Mission because of the leaves and the shape of the unripe figs.
in comparison to this USDA/UCD cultivar:



(Just poke thru to GW and someone had a similar dilemma, Breba was inedible, everyone figured to be caprifig, and main crop was edible)

BTW, As I was writing this post I kept going back to Malli's comment about the Syconia, Google Search, and some university sites describing the different kinds of syconia, and I get all flipped around, at least in my head.

(1.5 hrs after starting this post I'm done.)

Thanks again Jon.

As I tried to explain, it starts simple, and gets more complex the more you "stare" at it. There are many days that I think I know less than I did 5 or 10 years ago. Always another exception or wrinkle, it seems. Maybe there are reverse San Pedro types, that have smyrna type brebas and common type main crop - I don't know.