I was communicating with Jon about some local trees (will get better photos and post them here soon) and he was surprised about the size I was talking about (I estimated trunk diameter to be 30" but I need to get in closer).  I did some searching and here appears to be the large fig (Ficus carica) in California:

http://www.ufei.org/bigtrees/images.lasso?KeyValue=66

this one in China is impressive!  http://www.xinjiangtravel.com/attractions/hotan-attractions/king-of-fig-tree

Background: My father's parents came to the USA from Madeira over 90 years ago, settling near Isleton, California (south Sacramento County).  My father periodically mentions that he liked the fig that was at his family's farmstead.  The family home and the fig tree were lost when our delta Island flooded June 21, 1972.  It took about six months to pump the 13,000 island dry.  My dad said "old man Gonsalves" had the same fig as his family.  The significance of this fig, according to my father, is that it would never sour and could be left to dry on the tree.  I don't recall ever having eaten this fig myself though I recall the large fig tree that was in my grandmother's chicken coop.  The Gonsalves farmstead was a small one on the outskirts of Isleton and also was flooded but the water wasn't as deep and I'd guess the land was dry one or two months after the levee break.  An uncle (by marriage) was one of the sons of the original owners and the property has been abandoned since the flood and has changed ownership at least two or three times and has been for sale again for quite a while (current building regulations would require a new home to be elevated maybe six feet or more above the flood plane).  I had visited the property a couple of years ago but my renewed interest lead me to visit the place again yesterday and again today.  When I asked my uncle about the trees a couple of years ago he didn't recall if the three trees on the property were the same variety or not.  Yesterday I took cuttings from the three trees and some were sent to Jon today for the F4F collection.  There are some apparent seedlings growing under some of the trees based on the narrow leaves on those branches.  I only collected cuttings from the old trees themselves.  I'd guess that all of them are about 90 years old.  Today's visit was made to take better photos and take some measurements since Jon was impressed with my estimated sizes reported yesterday.

Finally, here are the trees (names I've made up to keep them clearly designated):

Figo Gonsalves #1 - This tree has two major branches/trunks beginning at about 42" above ground level.  On the north side there is obvious evidence of another branch that was sawed off, probably earlier this year.  Measuring a about 24"-30" above soil grade (maybe 16" below the crotch of the two limbs to get a representative trunk), the circumference is 126", or a diameter of about 40" average.  I'd guess that it's about 60" wide in the widest direction.  The larger of the two limbs (or trunks?) at about chest height or a little higher has a circumference of 81" (close to 26" in diameter, fairly round).  The branches aren't much narrower at 10' above ground.  Tree has abundant growth from the current year, probably due to chainsaw pruning.


For slightly larger image, use http://www.chestnuts.us/images/FigoGonsalves1a-M.jpg


For slightly larger image, use http://www.chestnuts.us/images/FigoGonsalves1b-M.jpg


Figo Gonsalves #2 - This tree also has two major branches or trunks, though neither is as large as tree #1.  Ivy is growing aggressively on this tree so it obscures the view in this photograph and made measuring a lot more work.  I ran my twine behind the ivy pretty well and measured at 30" above soil level before branching.  The trunk circumference is 107 inches or an average diameter of about 34".  It is hard to see but I'd guess the widest point of the trunk to be at least 48".  Tree has abundant growth from the current year, again probably due to chainsaw pruning.


For slightly larger image, use http://www.chestnuts.us/images/FigoGonsalves2-M.jpg


Figo Gonsalves #3 - This tree was the easiest to measure had has a single trunk for at least 5' high.  The narrowest area of the trunk was about about 3' above soil grade and the circumference is 73", or about 23 inches in diameter.  It does not appear to have had any major chainsaw work on it and it is not growing vigorously but still appears healthy.


For slightly larger image, use http://www.chestnuts.us/images/FigoGonsalves3-M.jpg

Harveyc that's amazing stuff. They are wonderful and yet astonishing !
Thanks for sharing these wonderful trees.

Santa Barbara's Moreton Fig Tree:

(Edit.   Moreton fig tree is a banyan tree and is therefore d'q'd.  Sorry.  I had heard it was a mission.  My bad).

Dave, I've seen and photographed that tree while touring some of the California missions and it's impressive.

Harvey, you can get real suckers with real roots from those trees. wonder what their figs look and taste like..wow they are amazing looking for sure.

Grasa, I had dug up some suckers a couple of years ago but didn't keep track of what tree they were from (#1 or #2, I believe) and I noticed yesterday that some of what I may had believed to be suckers previously were actually seedlings so I may plant those off in some remote spot on my farm to see if they are even worth growing but I want to grow one of each of the mother trees to see what they are like.  All I know is that they are a dark fig (or, at least, the one my dad has been talking about).

The only other history of these trees that I know is that my cousin says she remembers climbing up the big fig trees and thrown figs at her grandfather's chickens.  She wants one of the trees I propagate, but to eat the fruit now. :)

Great stories, Harvey... I totally know about climbing trees for fruits.. I was the one who climbed the tallest mango trees to get the best ones...and to run away from my mother's collective beatings. It was safer up there with the birds...

Today I visited the local "giants" to inspect the crops.  I think they might all be the same variety.  This is an old large home site of a couple of acres that has been vacant for about 41 years (our Delta island flooded on 6/21/1972 and we lost our crops and home and the old home where my uncle was raised sat on this site and was lost as well, though water only reached 2-3 deep here).  So these trees are very neglected and birds are eating all the ripe figs though I found one breba that was pretty good (on tree #3).  I sent cuttings to Jon of these trees so if there are any buyers here of those trees this post may be of particular interest to you.

Figo Gonsalves #1:






Figo Gonsalves #2:





Figo Gonsalves #3:

I should add that the flood of 1972 resulted in these trees were standing in water of up to 3' deep for a 2-3 months during the summer.  Once the huge pumps were installed to pump our 13,000 acre island dry the water would drop up to a half inch in 24 hours.  Three of these pumps had something like 48" discharge pipes and pumped 70,000 gallons per minute 24/7.  My dad tended these pumps, working 2 shifts of 8 hours each back to back earning $6/hour to support the family as he had lost all of his crops, much of his equipment, and our home.

Also, all three trees show symptoms of FMV but seem to do very well despite it.

Very cool.  I hope the figs taste great.

Taste of the fairly ripe breba from #3 was "good" but probably would have been quite a bit better in a couple of more days if the birds didn't get it first.  I think I'll bag some of the main crop to protect them from birds so I can check them out for taste later.

Very interesting postings.  Take a good look at the the last sequence of photos showing the figs.  I'm far from an expert, but I see no evidence of FMV ...in fact, those photos could've been taken in the neighborhoods of The Bronx, because the trees look the same....clean, lush, and vigorous.

I am wondering if pampering our trees weakens them to the point where they become more susceptible to infections viruses, and other diseases.  Maybe cultivation, fertilizing, over-watering, etc. compromises our trees?  I wonder if established, "wild", neglected, trees growing in the warmer States, California, etc. are as infected with FMV as their cultivated, backyard, counter-parts?


Just asking.



Frank

Are these trees in CA or Madeira ?  great pictures.

wonderful looking figs. hope they do well. just moved my Moscatel Preto over the weekend into 1 gal. hope someday i can add Gonsalve series into my collection.

Look harder at picture 3 Bronx.  ; )

M. in Chicago....

Good eyes, your right. 

Forget about my speculations.....  Bronx trees are cleaner.   : )


F

Frank, each of these trees show FMV symptoms on some leaves.  I think any lack of vigor is due to lack of watering and pruning and sunlight not reaching some lower branches.

Jack, these are about five miles from me on the outskirts of the small town of Isleton.  This uncle's family (as well as my own) immigrated from Madeira about 100 years ago.  Realistically, the oldest of these is 85-90 years old.  My uncle died earlier this year but he didn't recall much about these figs.  He and my dad were buddies that rode around together and picked up and married two German sisters in Lodi. :)

In another thread I have posted a photo of my Panache planted about four years ago.  Until last year it rarely was watered so it got off to a slow start.  It has never been fertilized. It has about 5' of growth so far this year.  A few leaves show evidence of FMV but most are big dark green shiny leaves and several branches have 20 figs on them.  It doesn't seem to mind the FMV at all so neither do I.

Harvey,
very interesting history/story and great photos.

Frank,
I'm starting to suspect that a significant factor in manifesting fmd (strictly personal observation not scientific control) in my mostly potted figs, is plant water stress.
My watering is probably a little bit of feast/famine type thing, especially in the smaller pots, as they dry/drain so much faster. Water, dry, repeat.
I am slowly converting to self watering containers tho so it will be interesting to compare growth rates.

I visited the three giant trees again today on my way back from the Post Office.  The birds are having a good time but I was still able to find ripe fruit on the trees.  I believe all three trees are the same variety.  Figs tasted good, sweet, crunchy seeds.



Not fully ripe, but still pretty good:


Very ripe and very good. :)






Growth is pretty good for no irrigation, fertilizer, etc. for maybe 40 years...


Guesses on variety are welcome.  I had suspected that these may have come from Madeira (homeland of the original owner of this tree), but it's really unknown.

Note: I had sent Jon cuttings of these trees and he sold some trees from those cuttings.  The leaves above are of "Figo de Gonsalves #1".

Yummy!

Iat want to add that to my wishlist too

Nice looking figs, and great find. The shape is like a black mission, but the leaf is like a Violette de Bordeaux.

# 3 looks like VDB to me. But isn't VDB supposed to be a dwarf mature height about 8-10 ft?