http://raysfigs.com/ethnic.html
We all have the impression that there is something original with oversea's fig varieties...well, guess what !

There are 4(!) Sicilian Blacks at the bottom. How do you tell them apart if the names are the same?

The red one should be easy to identify.

They should all be "U. Sicilian Black" Most of the varieties brought over should have the "U." Over time these "U" have received notoriety and official names, like "Sal's Corleone." How the process works is unclear to me, but arbitrarily putting a variety out there without the "U" adds to the confusion. Likewise, collecting an "U" and designating it a known name because the leaf and fruit are "pretty close" is a slippery slope. They also should always be "U". Calling something "U. Sal's Corleone" to me is better than naming a tree something that it may not be. On a small, local scale, naming a fig a Common, Regional, or Family name is fine. But here, for our purposes, it's too confusing.

yes
my point exactly !
But... figs being for Italy or Greece or any other country doesn't mean they are unique, they can be the same variety that is known to us already. And we will find out soon... 

Ficas carica is not native to america. anything that's here came in here somehow. so they are all ethnic in someway. as to where it came from.. that depends on who brought them in and if anyone cared to kept a note on it. as to the name, my understanding is no one really cared too much for the name back in the old country. the "named" ones are something that some horticulturist or some town mayor or someone decided to call once they got too tired of calling the fig trees "that one" "this one", and "you know.. the other one". 

I am not aware of any governing body that controls fig tree names except when someone goes through the effort of getting a patent.

ICNCP and other organizations control plants whose origins are engineered by humans.  But it seems to me that aside from the work of a few organizations (LSU, UC Davis ...) many (not all) fig varieties came to be without intentional human manipulation so in essence they are wild plants that were selected and cultivated and reproduced via cuttings. 

Some varieties i.e. kadota(dottato/ottato) in fact are the same fig that the were growing in Italy 600BC.  Even in the case of Kadota it is called different names in different areas of Italy.

The point is that it is what it is.  Thousands of different figs.  Should they be referred to as varieties or cultivars?   Which synonym is the right name? 

Seems like the best approach is to have a database of synonyms and detailed data that can reduce confusion.  By the way how is that project coming Aaron?

Well, the only way this confusion can be corrected is when some one has all the trees that we are not certain of their names and comparing and cross matching the fruit, leaf and growth habits collectively to come to conclusion. This may take time but it's a good way to clarify things for every body.

As to your question regarding the project Joe  (Pino)? I have tremendous amount of information and the response of enthusiasts has been (somehow) overwhelming, but, I am very excited that it is going the way it should.

Aaron,  great to hear your project is progressing well.

I wished I live in a temperate climate zone.  If I did I would grow a lot of fig trees and help with the identification.  Given that figs are mostly disease free and easy to grow.  Unlike grapes, apples ... which would be a full time job just to grow a couple of acres of a few cultivars.

you can move Joe, hehe, there is still a lot of space down here for new comers ;)

I don't know that a data base will ever be right, because someone will pass around a misnamed fig and after a while someone will decide it is the same as some other fig and then someone will believe that the misnomer is synonymous  with that other fig. A Ficus  carica genome project might resolve things, but I am not holding my breath for that one.

There are a few people who have what they've known as Dotatto (I don't know how many Ts it should have) and they also have a Kadota and they say they're different.

Thanks Bob. 
Just when I thought I had 1 fig variety figured out. LOL

In Italian it is spelled Dottato. 
However in the old days they called it Ottato and today in the area that grows most of it for dry fig market they call it Fico Bianco del Cilento.  I guess it could be that there are slightly different strands of Dottato.  Also someone mentioned that Dottato has a red interior with caprification or golden white if not fertilized.

I like it messy and confusing :) It's a good thing for figs to be more than just figs, to have some connection with people and places.

Aaron

I only have a few cuttings of U. Dottato and of U. Kadota so I don't know for now and may never know if mine are not the real Dottato.  But if true mine will not be red inside since no caprification in my zone except maybe in someone's greenhouse.

Pako mentioned in a recent post; "Dottato red=pollinated,Dottato golden=not pollinated"                  
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/goccia-doro-6735600?pid=1281349643#post1281349643