Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone could tell me info on some Sicilian varieties of figs I currently have.

1 what is the difference between Sicilian Black and Sicilian Black JR?

2 Is Sicilian Black really Sal's?

3 What is Sicilian Dark and does it have any relation to any above?

4 Sicilian White?

5 And Sicilian WM?

6 And any info on Sicilian Red, and are Sicilian Red and Sicilian Red Bifara the same fig?

Most of these varities I could find little on,, so I thought it would be nice to start a thread where everyone could give a piece of info on any of these varieties and it is all be under one thread. I originally just wanted to know the difference between Sicilian Black and Sicilian Black JR, but then started to look at the other Sicilian varieties I had, and realized I did not know much about them either. Feel free to ask you own questions too!

My Red Sicilian that I rooted a few months ago is heavily infected with FMD. But it's struggling its way through w/o much babying from me.  It's about 10 to 12" tall and I just saw this morning it has 4 figlets on it.  Will probalby have to pinch them off.  That's about all I know about it.

Here's my Sicilian Red from last year.

Here's a picture of the Red Sicilian.
 

How does the Red Sicilian taste like? Is is productive? How hardy is it?

I remember it being one of the better tasting figs from last year.
Don't know how cold hardy it is. Mine is in a pot.

I had a handful of figs off of my Sicilian Red last year for the first time and I was also impressed with the flavor.  Definitely a keeper.  Mine was a generous gift from Christy who got it from Marius. 

Christy, regarding your question about whether Sicilian Red Bifara and Sicilian Red are the same fig, the funny thing is that when you sent me this you refered to it as the former whereas I believe Marius simply refers to it as Sicilian Red.  It appears we are calling the same fig two different names.  Or do you have a specific reason to add "Bifara" to the name?

Also you ask "Is Sicilian Black really Sal's?"  Do you mean Sal's Corleone or Sal'sEL?  Isn't fig nomenclature fun! :)

There seems to be a consensus that Sicilian Red, Sal's Corleone, Palermo Red and a couple others are highly related figs (or possibly even the same).

Actually, Marius had referred to his as Red Sicilian Bifara, but I also have a Red Sicilian that I received. I think they may be the same.

According to F4F, when you look at Sicilian Black, both Sal, and Corleone come up as synonyms, so that is one of my questions, if they are all the same or just related.

And, I also have a Sicilian Black JR, and wanted to know where the JR came from? I know it has to do with someone from the forum.

Thanks to all who have replied so far! It will be nice to have everyone's own Sicilian variety information all in one thread!

Christy, I looked up the F4F entry for Sicilian Black and see what you mean.  I wonder if the comma in between "Sal's" and "Corleone" is a typo.  I wasn't aware that there is a fig simply called "Corleone" but I guess anything is possible in fig nomenclature.

JR is the source.  Many sources don't want to be known.

Oh yeah, JR is James Robin who is well known as a fig seller in the south.  Here's some more info on the Sicilian Black JR:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fig/msg1023360313417.html?20

Thank you! That clears up a bunch more!

Now stop that. I have no more room for figs and more that I can are for, and all you do is entice.

Sorry! LOL! I just have so many of these Sicilian types and trying to figure out who is the same and /or similar to each other. At least some good info has come of it. Being sick last year, I lost a lot of figs to premature drop due to under watering having to leave the family in charge of the plants, otherwise, I was really looking forward to a good side by side comparison last season.

I think I have also read that Sicilian Dark is an unknown named by Bass?

RE: "Sicilian Dark" fig.

Currently there are 2 that are floating around...

One is GM#11, an unkown that I had discovered a long while back growing in my (NJ) town.
After researching for exclusive names, I dubbed it as 'Sicilian Dark' (after owner/origin).

This old guy's other fig (GM#10) - I dubbed it as 'Sicilian Light'.

The Dark/Light part was to avoid the more common used Black/White names.

Recently, I have heard the same name (SD) coming from Bill's Figs.
Inquiring about it;  Bill told me that his (also unkown) came form another local (NJ) person.

... And not from Al of ItalianFigTrees (NJ source) that used to sell a 'Sicilian' fig (not a Sal's), and, and ...

Thanks Gorgi! So I assume my Sicilian Dark from Encanto Jon would be your Sicilian Dark GM #11? I look forward to trying it! Where in NJ is it from? Just curious! thanks! Christy

The one I was talking about is this (under "G" - Jon's fig data base):
GM-11
Sicilain Dark. (1005)
FIGS 4 FUN COLLECTION:
Accession No. 0109
Accession No. 0222
http://figs4fun.com/Thumbnail_GM-11.html
[Edit: This fig is rather moody! Most years it produces medium-large figs
(of unique shape), while some years it produces medium-small figs more
like the Gino/HC types. The leaves are very like the HC/Mt.Etna types.]

He shows another one (under "S") that I know nothing about:
SICILIAN DARK
Formed brebas in 2011 on F4F Acc. No. 0627. (910)
FIGS 4 FUN COLLECTION:
Accession No. 0379
Accession No. 0597
Accession No. 0627

Mine is the 597, so I guess it is not your SB,,,,,,,

Maybe the Sicilian Dark I have is the Bill's Figs variety then.

I also have one just called Sicilian WM, and am assuming it is a dark fig also at this point, not sure who WM is (maybe a source who wants to remain a secret), so along with my Sicilian Blacks, who knows what will be what with what I have. I am going to have to seriously follow up and take pictures of all of these this year and see how similar each is to each other. That will be an interesting project this year.
Thanks for everyone's help so far!

I am very interested in Sicilian fig varieties, thanks for the good read. Here is a picture of the figs from my first year Sicilian red (from Jon D856). 
 

I am also growing 1 family Sicilian fig tree. I am trying to get some more cuttings from my Aunt. She gave me a bunch of green cuttings for my wedding in September but only 1 survived and is growing very slow.  This is a black fig my uncle brought back from our families orchard in Campofiorito, Sicily. It currently is a large bush/tree that grows outside unprotected for more than 40 years in Long Island, NY.

Sicilian White Bifera.
It is larger than Atreano when ripe but tastes close. It turns out that this one is among my earliest ripening figs this year, as I started picking fruit this week, which is end of June.
What I like about this variety is the closed eye and mild flavor. It is filling due to its size and its green color meant that there was minimal damage by birds this season as they missed almost all the figs.
It took about four years for this one to put out some figs, but it has all the characteristics of what I'm looking for in a fig.