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What does the vs in Marseilles vs blk mean?

Greetings, I have been looking all over the place and have gotten more confused... is the fig's name Marseilles vs Black or  Marseilles Black vs.... or just Marseilles? Is it a good fig? I look forward to some clarity in this....and what does vs mean?

Herman's initials.

Wouldn't the be HT?

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Herman's first name is actually Vasille, not sure of the spelling

I'm so glad you asked. I was trying to figure this out myself.

Did he discover this fig?

I have Marsielles VS its a figlet......I am curious to.....Its Great if he discovered it..!!!!    Still new to Fig Business.....is there a Description Standard of posting say a Fig tree bought from Monrovia Nursery    Example:  Black Mission (Monrovia)......Black Mission HD  for Home Depot....

The original tree is thought to grow in Columbus Maryland. Where that tree came from, who knows?  Herman traded cuttings with someone and eventually then introduced us all to the variety as well. So it was an unknown that got named with his initials on the end.

[Edit: apparently some post(s) before this one have been deleted - sorry for the discontinuity]

.....

Yes (and no...).
There is a known Marseilles Black (somewhere in France?).

A looong story (made shrt):
(FF member) Herman got some fig cuttings back-traced to a WW2 veteran that brought them from Europe in 1943.
Originally some were tagged as MD1943BT and MD1943Celeste.
(Heck, I still have both tags.)
MD stands for Maryland and 1943 stands for the year he got back safe home.
Neither was a BT or a Celeste!
Herman (with some other help) did some acute investigation and determined that
both were the same - Marseilles Black (period).

Along the line; Herman's initials (VS) got attached (somewhere) to the name (Marseilles Black) to more ID this fig strain.

Yes, there is some good history that comes attached with this good fig.

Thanks George and Calvin.....Now I Know.

When I first saw vs I guessed it might mean, virus susceptible, or very sweet. [image]

So is it correct that Maryland Berry is the same as Marseilles VS is the same as Brown Turkey MD? 


>>> So is it correct that Maryland Berry is the same as Marseilles VS is the same as Brown Turkey MD?

Awhile back; I asked the same exact question before ...
I answer I got was: NO.

When I received Marseilles VS from Herman, I already had another plant called Marseilles, so to distinguish them, I added the initials to differentiate them. He later called it Marseilles Black to distinguish it from Marseilles White. So Marseilles VS, Marseilles Black VS, etc. are the same. Over that years I have collected many supposed duplicates of things, and each one gets some designator to distinguish trem from one another. So there are Celeste IS, JN, GM, SD, etc. They are not all "equal" so I keep them with their distinctive labels. Also, the initials are important to when you want to look at pix at Figs 4 Fun to see a specific fig.

Maryland Berry was supposedly a Brown Turkey, and was labeled Brown Turkey MD, having come from Maryland. It was clearly not BT and was a superior variety, so I renamed it Maryland Berry to preserve its origin and better describe it. Maryland Berry does NOT equal Marseilles VS.

Thanks Jon and Gorgi for the extra information. That went back considerably farther than I knew. I knew Jon put the VS on the end, but I didn't know anything about the war veteran story. What great history! Thanks again.

Yes this is terrific info, Thank you guys. I wonder if that orginal tree is still in Columbia, MD. I would swing by and pick up some cuttings if possible. 

bump.

This question pops up from time to time.  I think it should be pinned on top just like the thread where everyone showed a picture of themsleves.  I can't locate it now but if anyone does find it, post the link here and I'll ask Jon to pin it so the newbies can see who is who.

Would probably be good to post this info on Jon's page for the variety. My $.02

Harvey....thought you were on a break...LOL      My Small Marsielle VS looks very healthy....one of these years I will taste this fruit of the Gods...LOL

Thought I'd resurrect an old thread...

I live 10 miles from Columbia, MD.  Any idea where this "Eden" tree is located?

smithmal

smithmal, is this a wild growing tree?
(I don't know anything about it, would appreciate more info...)

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