Here is an interesting fig, from a mature tree that an acquaintance in Oregon has in his backyard.  It was taken in the first weeks of July, I assume this could be breba crop because new crop is coming in on new growth in the 1st picture.  Of course, maybe it is main crop.  He didn't know what the variety is.  It has no distinct eye color, but the skin texture and mottled green/yellow is like nothing I have ever seen before.  Has anyoen seen something like this?


The 3rd picture below is a huge tree (~20'+) that belongs to another acquaintance in NorCal, again, unknown variety.  He would like to ID it, so I told him to send pics of leaves and ripe fruit, and I will post here. 

Have you tasted the mottled figs?  I am curious as to its interior and taste of course.

Nice find That 3rd pic is great. Thanks for taking the time to post.
Sal

Ed, I haven't tasted those.  I asked for pics of fruit this coming year. 

His parents have a three fig trees in north Oregon, 1 tree immigrated from Russia with his great grandfather.  Another is some type of honey fig that is a big producer and dries very well.  I do not know about the third variety.  Either way, I'm going to negotiate cuttings of the Russian immigrant tree if it kills me, and maybe get lucky with cuttings from the others?  If they will survive in the upper NW USA, I assume they would be good in many parts the East US.

I love that cute little humming bird in pic 1.
I like those white spots on the green fig in pic 2.
I envy the size of that mother fig tree in pic 3.
Sorry, I cannot ID any.

 Thanks for checking it out, George.

Well, last picture for now, I promise.  Don't want to bother some people with all my excited posting.

I stopped at the old wooded lot by my house on my way home tonight.  I spotted this leaf, which looks like a possible mystery fig off the side of the road.  It died to the ground, all growth is new this year, the base is as thick as an adult thumb and branches are 3ft-5ft tall, gaps of is 8"-10" between nodes at the base.  I took about 20 cuttings and wrapped them.

I took photos of the leaves (attached).  They small-ish, and finger-like with jagged edges, 5 points with small nubs of a thumb, and very, very pointed stiletto tips.  The largest leaves are pictured on the right of the image.

I wonder if this possible fig tree was always here?  My neighborhood was full of old German farmers at one time, and 40 years ago, the lot this is growing on was a diary farm.  Or ... maybe somoene tossed a fig out the window one day and the seeds were good?  It's a mystery!  (I love it)

I will go back this weekend and look for suckers to dig up, since this is much easier than rooting cuttings.

A very interesting rare fig leaf shape...

Not sure that I have ever seen a leaf like that.

Jon, if I can manage to get multiple suckers, you're welcome to one or more of them.  Or some cuttings later.  The cuttings are pretty thin, never seen anything like them.

Jason i gotta hand it to you for you are fairly new here looking at your post number and have posted some wonderful pictures.
Like others i have never seen a leaf like that so in short please keep us posted in future of things to come its always a pleasure to see somethng unsual.
 Thanks for taking the time in posting them.

Somebody took some nice photos! Especially the one with the little Ruby Throat (looks like anyway) in #1.

I would have never known the mottling in that fig wasn't normal. I guess you can call that a case of 'new guy syndrome'.

As for photo #3, I think I've got fig tree envy.

Good stuff Jason. Thanks for posting.  

Jason,  What an interesting find.  I have never ever seen any fig leaf shape of that kind, not even little random leaves. This seems to be very dominant as many have this shape.  Maybe is their any way you can ask around and find out what and who and where people may have lived there and if anyone knows any history to this fig. You said alot of Germans lived in the area.  Maybe you can track down who lived on this lot and maybe some survivors are around still who may know.  This would really intrigue me and cause me to do some sherlock holmes investigating.  I have a bit of sleuth inspector in me.  Maybe it was as you said, someone tossing out a fig of some kind and a mutation occured.  Ciao

Hi Maggie,

I have tried many times to dig into the history of my neighborhood with very little "concrete" success, most of the "old timers" have passed on or moved on, and the neighborhood has seen radical transition and gentrification in the past 2.5 decades, which I guess I am part of (moved here 6 years ago).  It is a small neighborhood, approximately 3 blocks by 4 blocks (~12 blocks total), on the southern side of the tracks from Grant Park, which is one of the most historic neighborhoods in Atlanta.

I know for sure that there were several German farmers here during and after WWII and we have a lot of fruit and nut trees, huge 40-50 year old pecans, jujubes, mulberries, etc.  There was a dairy farm once here also, on our southern border, the servant buildings still remain and are rented out.  There is a Voiture hall on our eastern border (#217), that has been around since 1920-1921 and has deep rooted history in WWI and the French (Google for info on Voiture and the "40 & 8").  We have a Vietnamese church on our southern border also!  And the fig I found above is at the wooded lot which backs up to eastern side of the Vietnamese church, and is shared by the northern border of the dairy farm.

I found a fig at the Voiture hall that was once gigantic and it had interesting leaves, two types, one very common, one is uncommon.  It could be a French fig brought over in the early 20's, 30's or 40's .... or it could be nothing!  With the culinary events and interests in Voiture history, I am intruiged. 

In my neighborhood, I know of around a dozen fig trees, all of which are 10-20 years old, some older than that.  The owners are gone, so getting answers on variety has been challenging.  This one with the unique leaves - all of the leaves are like this - I literally just found at the edge of the woods.  I also spotted another near the railroad tracks this morning, across the tracks from a meat wholesale company.

I need to start mapping all of these using Google Maps or something.

Ciao Jason, interesting info on your neighborhood.  I have never been inside Atlanta, only on the way to Florida, we never stopped in the City.  Transitions happen alot in neighborhoods, it will still be interesting thing to know what and where this fig came from.  Pennsylvania, My state, has a very very large German population, even German neighborhoods still in my city.  They still live there and some of the old timers are still there( from the old country)  I passed through these neighborhoods many times and I can say never saw a fig tree. Italian, Greek and Jewish neighborhoods, YES.  I don't want to hear from all the Germans, I know they do grow figs but Its just not so common with them.  You can still see alot of the evidence of the Germans influence still in many of the homes around the area of what they brought with them from Germany.  I see so many Medlar trees and Lingonberry bushes still growing from where they planted them on the properties in these neighborhoods they settled. Also alot of Seaberry bushes still growing every year.  Alot of the people don't know what they are, but I ask alot of questions, it intrigues me what all the different immigrants bring with them. Lingonberries was very popular, but was told by a german immigrant here in my town, that they also are very popular and come from the Scandinavian countries. I wish you luck on your venture and would love to be kept posted if and when you ever find out what may be. Maybe a new fig into the works.  This of course is how so many of our favorite varieties came to be,alot of mutations that occurred in different places and times.  Ciao.  Maggie

I just wanted to update on this.   posted some pictures at GW/FF and thought I would share here.

The cuttings decided to start budding before rooting, and some of the sucker-ish offshoot is rooting well, and sending shoots.

Anyway, here is the stuff from GW/FF, and I will post updated shots later.  It has so many "typical" fig characteristics, but there is something just not very figgy about this?  almost like it is a mutant plant? 

First picture is the bottom of the bundle. It shows many things: Callous has formed. Root initials are starting in clusters. Pith is clearly visible. I have some mold issues.

Second picture shows the most advanced initials of all, along with a shoot. You can see the center of the node and the leaf scar very clearly here.

Third picture - general shot of several cuttings. Again, leaf scars and buds clear. Please ignore my mold problem on the center cutting. I did not soak these in 10% bleach.

Fourth picture is the horizontal root/shoot. I've never seen any of them like this. You can see swellings of root initials starting. This was apparently initially under the ground at some point. Last picture is terrible, but it again shows node, with leaf scar below and bud above.  

The one thing that is not very fig like is the leaf bud.  Almost all buds are less round and more triangular, but the leaf and shoot is verbatim what I'm seeing from my Carolina Dark and Negronne.  The shape of the leaf and everything is correct.  Here are some pictures of the cutting, the odd leaf bud prior to bursting, and a little teeny tiny leaf.  I will take some more pictures in a few days when the leaf gets larger.

Thats fine Jason, I just wanted to help you along with you little experiment. Seems like those cuttings really have the desire to get growing with no help from either of us. Keep us posted and good luck.

Jason,
those are nice pictures.
Budding first is not always a sign of failure from my past experience , your tiny leaves are so cute when there that small and i really enjoy looking at them when they first pop out.
I have not rooted 100s of scion but i suppose i have been pretty lucky in the mold department not useing any bleach or soap to wash , i just spray em good with the sink spray head but thats just me being the oddball here.
Please keep the pictures coming !

So, I am convinced that the unknown species I have posted pictures from post #6 down is in the genus 'ficus', but I am not convinced it is our beloved 'ficus carica L'.

I am researching today all of the ficus family... and the closest I've found thus far is ficus hirta or 'hairy mountain fig':  http://www.hktree.com/herb/Ficus%20hirta.htm

Problem is, this ficus hirta shares 90% similarities with my unknown find, same way the unknown find shares 90% similarities with ficus carica L

I am debating posting this one on the 'name that plant' portion of GW forums, but I have a feeling that everyone there will just tell me it's ficus carica L ;)

More pictures of the leaves from the sucker (40" whip) I cut out of the ground before winter (Unknown "Francis"). 

The leaves are darker and a little thinner than most of my other figs, but same general leafing charcteristics.  No fruiting yet.  That would really help to ID this plant.  Still not spring nor summer yet.

The other whip I cut out has perished.

I am posting more pictures of this thing.  The indoor cuttings have skyrocketed by 12"-36", and the "wishbone" stick I stuck in the ground of my yard back in November when creating this post is shooting at the buds and well-rooted also.

Here are some more pictures of this mysterious plant which resembles so many characteristics of Ficus Carica.  You can see the cutting ends, the bark, the leaves, the growth....  I will be posting on "name this plant" GW forum in the near future to ask for more help about the identity, what could it possibly be if it is not F. Carica.

If anyone can give some reason why this "cannot possibly be" F. Carica, please let me know.  I still think it looks like a weirdo fig, something strange like 'Ficus Afghanistanica' (is that actually Ficus Johannis, or Ficus Carica?)

Don't know...but open to suggestions.  Is it possible this is a new species of Ficus I have found?  What a strange place to find it ....

looking at the texture of the wood on the cuttings this sounds more like a mulberry then a fig...

Hi Jason
 Is it possible this is a new species of Ficus I have found? 
My personal opinion is Yes.
The more i see of it in this post the more im convinced it is ficus carica and at this point an unknown one.
Sure the young leaves look pretty pointY and all and almost not like ficus carica but looking at the bigger leaves take shape with there lobes it looks more and more like a type of ficus carica. I can now see 7 lobes and the older leaves getting more defined.
Jason the only important thing i can say weather it actually is or not is and i know you will to your best ability is take care of this plant to see what it turns out to be.
One thing im also curious about is the plants smell does it yet have that fig type of smell yet im sure you have an idea of a fig plants smell, im just curious.
Thanks for posting this thread and i find it exciting and look forward to the eventual out come .
It to me is a beautiful plant ficus carica or not. I have been wrong about things in past but i will put it out there that i have a good feeling about this plant is a ficus carica of unknown type at this point.

Michal,

And Morus Rubra:

http://www.floridasnature.com/images/Red%20Mulberry%20(Morus%20rubra%20L.jpg