I have a few cuttings from an unidentified fig tree. The cuttings have started to sprout their first leaves. Can you identify the species from the first set of leaves.

Assuming you meant the F.carica variety, the quick answer is no.

This summer, if possible take pics showing a typical leaf shape,
and ripe fruit showing both skin and pulp - from the mother tree...

so if i understand this correctly i need the fruit and the leaf along with the wood structure to properly identify the species. correct???

Like Gorgi said the easiest way to Identify your unknown fig is to take Pictures of the more predominant Leafs of the mother tree and also some pics of ripe figs showin shape & skin colour and also interior colour.

Young rooted plants are hard to tell as they usually have multiple shapes on the leaves and is harder to identify specially with out the figs.

Young leaves from a new rooted cutting are known not to be of typical shape
(unless it is some very rare variety with very distinctive properties?).

A better ID is the fruit with help from the leaf.
Also some reference-scale e.g., a quarter (US coin) in the pic helps
showing the size.

The wood structure is not usually needed - but everything is helpful....

thanks alot i have to wait for the figs then I will post pictures hopefully this fall we shall see.

If you have leaves, and fruit, then you have a fighting chance, but by no means will that guarantee an ID. It is not hard, at all, to find a fig that hasn't been seen before, and if it is a seedling, then there isn't another like it.

These two leaves are from the same tree. Would that help you ID a fig, if you had one of the leaves, and I had the other? And we would definitely stand there and agree they were the same variety, right?



Now, you are beginning to see the "fun" in figs.

Jon now thats an interesting set of leaves, what variety are those leaves from?

If I have cuttings potted up from last year and they did not produce figs  I cut them back to about 3 feet for the winter. How many leaves or how big must the plant be before you can have an idea of what kind of fig tree I have? I am not asking for a definitive ID

 of the plant but put in a class of fig trees.

I have read that the fig tree can have as many as three different leaf configurations.

Al

Z 6 New Jersey

Nelson, Raspberty Latte.

Smiles, there are no rules. In looking at trees at USDA/UC Davis, there were some that you could have looked at all day and not been able to determine the "normal" leaf pattern for that tree/variety. If you look through the leaf pix at Figs 4 Fun, you will discover that the leaves will help you eliminate some things, but often not get you closer. You can show me a leaf from Negronne, Violette de Bordeaux, Vista Black Mission, Petit Negri, and several more, and I can tell you it is from that broad "group" of figs, but will get no closer. I could probably pick out a Celeste leaf in most cases, but other trees have the same leaf style. Classically leaves were classified into about 7 broad categories. Doesn't help much in sorting out 1000s of varieties. Fruit is a much better aid in identification, but it is highly variable, given differences in soil, climate, water, fertilizer, etc. - that is just the way it is. I can show you figs that are honey colored part of the season, and strawberry colored during other parts, or year.

Thanks Jon cant wait for my Raspberry latte hehehe.

AL , Jon is absolutely right here is an example on my Bronze Paradiso figs one month apart from each other look at the difference in exterior colour shape and interior colour.

Late August Figs




Early October




Mid November

Again these are all from the same tree

Jon,

>>> if it is a seedling, then there isn't another [same] like it.
You are so right! Only a true (rare and good0 known seedling
deserves a NEW name.

As far to my previous statement:
"(c) Never seen it before - waalaa a new discovered fig..."
This should be considered (at least long-initially) as an UNKNOWN fig.

Heck, maybe our-next-fignut-generation, will be blessed with
some cheap, good and reliable F.carica id via DNA...

gorgi,

Don't know that is is a seedling, but if it is, and hasn't previously been propagated, then it is unique and can never be identified. But, then, you have GT-1 t0 11, and they probably all had names at one time, which are lost, and may or may not be the same as any other tree here. Depends on their origin, how they got here, and if they have been propagated since they arrived. And if anyone has documented them by their original names and taken pictures, etc. We probably can't match 10% of the figs from Belleclare because there just isn't much documentation. Sybil, at Paradise Nursery did not recognize pictures I took of her figs when they were grwon here in CA.

Well Jon,

The GT.1-11 are really UNKOWN figs which I hunted down in
GreekTown (GT) Baltimore MD in fall 2007.  As are GT.A-M hunted
by Henry in 2008 (I made sure he went through different streets -
to avoid more duplications). Though some of them should be of a Greek
origin, others may not. Also, as neighbors tend to share the same
good fig tree, the random assigned numbers may be from the same
exact mother tree - who knows - I only spoke to ~5 persons.
At least one of these fig  looks very promising - green skin with blood-red
pulp (the leaves look different from the Vasilika Sika variety).

Also, Jose did hunt down 6 more GT figs (FL) in 2009.