I found this fig a while ago,but it has taken until now to get access.The fig is growing close to(right up against) an road/canal bridge near where I work, the tree is tucked under an iron stairway from the ground level up to the bridge, (the ground level for the road is about 50ft higher than where the fig is,on the low ground,I suspect the change in elevation is due to the canal which runs under the bridge.The wall it is on is south facing and the fig tree is really trying its best to compete with the surrounding trees.I finally managed to get to it today by struggling through the undergrowth and negotiating loads of rubbish(I think someone has been sleeping rough under the iron stairway up to to to of the bridge).

When I got to it there are now no figs,I'm know it had some so maybe the birds/homeless person got to them first,I know there weren't many but I am sure that's due to the sheer amount of growth this thing is putting on.Its roots are right next to an overflow pipe which seems to be giving it almost constant irrigation.

There are only 2 ways this fig could have got here,the birds(less likely here in UK as no fig wasp) or an unscrupulous gardener chucking their garden waste off the bridge(more likely,you should see the place).

I only have one fig shot from about 2 months ago,from a distance but the leaves are quite distinctive,any thoughts on what variety it could be?

Interesting leaf! I will wait for comments. Very interesting!

It always fascinates me to see what grows near canals and railways. I have a beautiful old rose that I grew from cuttings off a bush that I found on an old dump. It smells so much nicer than any of the ones from the garden centre.

I hope you didn’t have to climb down a 50 ft iron stairway to get to that fig tree…

Difficult to tell what variety it is without ripe fruit. It could very well be a seedling. Here we can occasionally find a seedling fig tree close to a canal. Canals were basically used as open sewers. A seed from an imported dried fig that got into the canal can grow out to a fig tree if it finds a place where it can sprout. Sometimes even a small crack in a wall is enough for a seedling to grow, as you can see on this photo of a nice fig tree in the city of Ghent, Belgium.

 

That is a big fig tree Timo. There are a lot of sheltered nooks and crannies in cities, it is often much warmer than in the surrounding countryside.

Timo,great pic,looks like you need to borrow a boat and go take cuttings.I hear the same here,I know of at least 2 growing on the banks of the canals I'm sure there are more.This one is quite far from the canal,about 100m or so,but I know the canal authorities used to dredge and dump on the sides of the canal in places,so it could be a Seedling.Its free so worth a shot at seeing what it can do,I took a whole bunch of cuttings so will grow it out and see what it is.I know it had figs ,I'm hoping it's not Smyrna type seedling in which case I'll just have to cut it down and experiment grafting!.

I was hoping for figs,not just to eat but would have been great to post those here too,difficult just going on leaf shape,maybe next year :(.At least I know it is NOT brown turkey,I recon out of the 15 or so trees I know of locally 12 or so are probably brown turkey.

Anyone know of varieties with this leaf shape?,looks a bit like desert King?,not sure of any others with leaves like that

Yea,I had to walk down a big metal staircase lol,but I need the exercise.it's on my way to the car now (short cut) so I get to see this fig twice a day now.Whatever this fig is it is the only true wild fig I know of so far in the city so by far my most interesting find,all others are on private land,this is in a large patch of 'open ground' next to a housing estate(high rise),unsure why it wasn't built on,it's prime redevelopment land.I suspect that the land was in the past used for dumping dredged silt from the canal and would therefore likely be unsuitable for building?,they are building thousands of home on more reclaimed land on the other side of the main road so ,if they do build on this bit eventually you can bet this fig will be gone

What a cool find, I would have climbed as well lol I love those big leaves!

They don't call us dig nuts for nothing!

I hope it is not a smyrna fig, but even if so, you will probably be happy in a few years to have rootstocks to graft on. When you want to propagate slow growing varieties they can be really useful. I wish I had started growing some rootstocks a couple of years ago.

The leaf shape of your fig is quite distinctive. I hope someone will be able to ID this fig.

My bet is on seedling. If you take cuttings and want to share count me in.

nice looking leaf

 

I love the symmetry and the ornate bulb fingers on this,when I first saw it I questioned whether it was a fig at all(I think at that point if only ever seen BT-it was before I found this forum)

Great picture and always fun to find a new one.

Yeah,I spotted that one back in about June time but can't see it now,could be obscured by the foliage as this thing is on a proper growth spurt,has put on several ft of growth this year and those big leaves don't help,if it didn't need wasp would that dig not have fallen off?,or would it not reach that size without the wasp?