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I'm dead serious....What makes a fig a "new" variety? Where do they come from?
Since common figs cannot be hybridized, at least not in the conventional sense,
or bred, selected, culled, re-crossed, back-crossed, etc. for certain
characteristics...where do new varieties originate? Are they mutations, sports,
just selected forms of the same variety?
A variety of sources... mutations, natural hybridization in 'the old country'.... Figs are very confusing... the entire group is the most taxonomically mixed-up group I've ever encountered, lol. I've never seen more pseudonyms for what seems to be the same variety in the plant world before.
But much of it is has great charm to it. I absolutely love reading stories of origin such as 'my grandfather brought this fig from Sicily 30 years ago', or 'this fig was saved from the courtyard of the old restaurant down the street'... and so forth. And all these saved figs have different names, often indicating the location or the original grower. Absolutely charming.
Even though my father, from Italy, did not happen to grow figs, he did garden till into his 90s, and he loved his fruit trees. And his zucchini, corn, and beans. And homemade wine accompanying good, simple foods.
I am filled with vicarious nostalgia when I read many of these stories about all the diverse fig varieties. The more the merrier. :)