for your consideration...I have a fig plant started from cuttings I collected from a tree nearby the Winter of 2010 that I am hoping you all can help me identify. It is bifara. When ripening, it turns lemon yellow then starts turning violet-brown from the apex towards the stem. It has most of the characteristics of Condit's Brown Turkey. The flavor is good even though the tree is very young. No real seed crunch. Ideas?

Ruben your fig does resemble my English Brown Turkey quite a bit. Leaf shape looks about right for EBT.

It sure does look like EBT. However, mine go from a light tan to that color.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

It does bear a strong resemblence to an EBT. Herman has a cpl pics of his in various stages of ripening and his seems to ripen the same way. Unfortunately, he did not post pics of the meat and pulp. Loslunasfarms posted pics of his fruit but his appear to be greenish and the pulp is darker. hmmmmm....

Ruben not the best of pics and I wish I would have taken pics of the other figs that ripened but this is the thread I started last year. Go towards the end of the thread.

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=4870758&highlight=english+brown+turkey

Nelson,

that is a VERY close match! I find the long, thick stems to be a stand out feature. Did/does yours have long stems too?

That plant did not fruit for me this year, but my new EBT that I purchased this year does have long stems too. These pictures were taken atleast a month ago.

[IMG]http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/ad73/nelson20vt/IMG_1837.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/ad73/nelson20vt/IMG_1838.jpg[/IMG]

should have some ripe figs in the next week or so will post pics then.

Hey Ruben here is the pics of the ripe English Brown Turkey from the above plant.

[IMG]http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/ad73/nelson20vt/English%20Brown%20Turkey%202/103_0692.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/ad73/nelson20vt/English%20Brown%20Turkey%202/103_0693.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/ad73/nelson20vt/English%20Brown%20Turkey%202/103_0694.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/ad73/nelson20vt/English%20Brown%20Turkey%202/103_0696.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/ad73/nelson20vt/English%20Brown%20Turkey%202/103_0697.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/ad73/nelson20vt/English%20Brown%20Turkey%202/103_0698.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/ad73/nelson20vt/English%20Brown%20Turkey%202/103_0699.jpg[/IMG]

Thanks for the picture, Nelson. It does not appear to bear much resemblance to my unknown though. Skin color is off. So are the eye and the pulp colors. Your fig's pulp seems to be pink/reddish. Also, the color at the stem end is very green.

Hey Ruben I think you got a unique strain of EBT. YOu can certainly see the difference between my EBT and your UNK.

This is a ripe fig from my other EBT picked last season.

[IMG]http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/ad73/nelson20vt/English%20Brown%20Turkey/103_0592.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/ad73/nelson20vt/English%20Brown%20Turkey/103_0599.jpg[/IMG]

That's a closer match. How are they looking THIS season?

Ruben last season these figs ripened at the end of september here, this season they broke dormancy late may and dont think I will get any ripe figs off that tree as it just started forming figs about 3-4 weeks ago. Definately later than the new EBT I have.

wow. 3-4 weeks ago?! hat's off to you, Nelson. That's a whole other level of difficulty to this fig growing thing. lol. Thanks again for the pics!

OH ya for sure, this spring was a real bad one for us. Most of the plants only started forming main crop figs mid june to early July. So I  only have about a dozen plants or so that will actually ripen a main crop unfortunately. The lighter pulped ebt I have will soon have to find a new home further down south where im sure it will do much better.

Hi, folks!

Wanted to add some more information to try and get a more difinitive ID on this fig. This variety has the capability of producing a crop even after being killed to the ground. Its leaves are all 5-lobed. Never produced anything but 5-lobed leaves. This year, it's second season since starting it as a cutting, it bore excellent fruit from July 19 until after our second frost at the end of November. I am posting photos of the main crop fruit I picked from the mature parent tree on August 4, 2010 in case it helps. The difference in pulps is striking, likely due to the young age of my tree. I had dismissed it as perhaps I had picked the parent fruit too soon but I don't think that is the case. Darn figs seem to behave like chameleons. Juveniles can look vastly different from adults. As if identification was not difficult enough!

Based on Condit's very brief description in his publication The Fig, I am inclined to think that it may be an Eastern Brown Turkey instead of an English Brown Turkey. Here is what he wrote:

"Brown Turkey.Brown Turkey is regarded by English gardeners as by far the best fig incultivation either for standard trees out of doors or for forcing under glass.W. Coleman published a description and color plate of Brown Turkey figs in1880. According to Bunyard (1934) more trees of this variety are planted inEngland than of all other varieties put together, owing to its hardiness andproductivity. It has been introduced into California but its identity is indoubt. Bunyard describes the fruit as medium to very large on old trees; colorchocolate-brown; surface slightly ribbed; pulp deep red; flavor sweet and rich.

Brown Turkeyof Eastern United States. Next to Celeste this is the variety most widelyplanted in the southern and eastern states. The tree is hardy and prolific,often producing two crops in one season. The figs are of medium size, broadlypyriform, coppery-brown in color, and have light strawberry pulp."

Opinions?

Ruben,

Try looking at Condit's "Fig Varieties: A Monograph" for his 1955 description, illustration, and some photos of "Brown Turkey".

It can be downloaded as a 3+mb PDF via my website:
http://sites.google.com/site/kiwifruitsalad2

Happy Growing,   kiwibob
Seattle

Thanks, kiwibob. Unfortunately, I have been all through Condit's works and this fig fails to match the Brown Turkey (or any other) he describes in that publication in many respects. Too many to ignore. Unfortunately, he did not go into sufficient detail in The Fig when he described the English and Eastern BT to make a more definitive ID. Perhaps one day someone with mature trees of those two varieties will come on and post their findings and help clear things up.

I think I am closer to this figs' ID. Here is a turkey platter full of my unknown fig and fruit from my TX Everbearing harvested today. They are a match both inside and out as well as foliage and growth habit. I believe however, that TX E is just a strain/variation of Archipel. The description for OP is almost an exact match for my unknown and this TX E.

English Brown Turkey is pale pink inside,not the most beaUTIFUL COLOR,IN MY OPINION.
Nelson has EBT,in post #10,but here in NJ it was much nicer looking on outside.

Here is a side-by-side comparison of the Unknown and TX Everbearing. The flavor was identical (very good!). Average weight for the Unknown main crop was 40.3g and 37.8g for the TX E.

Ruben, those figs look awesome I used to have a texas everbearing but leaves were very different more like a mission and had red tips. Unfortunately I lost it this winter and never got any fruit. I also noticed most of the Texas Everbearing trees I have seen for sale localy look very different. Dont think the one I had or seen localy are authentic as the ones I seen localy have brunswick type leaves.

with a side by side shot like that they certainly look identical.

Them figs look alsome. Could your TX E be miss labeled? I would say they are a match.

luke

Could this fig be a Texas BA-1?

I just got one of those from Durio Nursery and the leaves look a lot like the ones you show, Ruben.  Since it's a baby (a BIG one), there are no figs, but it's a strong grower.

I don't know what color the figs are on a BA-1, though.

The figs on my grandparents' trees were the same shape as yours, but the outside color was deeper, more redish and the pulp was a browish pink.  It did look like the pulp in #15, though.

Those figs of theirs were really delicious.  My gramma would peel them and there is enough flesh on your figs to be able to peel them.  I remember I could see the color of the pulp showing through the peeled flesh in places.  Their figs did have some vertical lines on them and might have been slight ribs.  They had a small void inside of them.  They had a sweet and figgy flavor to them that got a special taste to them when they were almost too ripe, just on the verge.  I could smell the ripe figs and they smelled almost as good as they tasted.

What is that ? Coronado?  Where did it come from?

Thanks for this thread,

noss

Good morning, friends!

@Nelson...Thanks! I would definitley recomment this one.

@luke...Thanks! As for the labeling...of course it could have been mislabeled (even likely). If you read the link below, you will get an idea of how out of control that problem is. Even Nelson has experienced it with this same cultivar in his post #23. It does resemble Snaglpus' from previous thread though.

@Noss...Coronado is the name of a local street where the parent tree is located. The pic in post #15 is from the parent tree, which is a mature tree. My in-ground tree is only 2.5 yrs old now. Here is a link by JD on his BA-1 . It looks way off. The flavor is as you describe, espcially the flavor of an over-ripe one.

I still like it for Eastern Brown Turkey (as described in the last two sentences of post #15) or a UCD strain of Archipel.

Hi Ruben,

Thanks for the link to the BA-1.  It's a yellow fig!  I didn't know that and now I do, thanks to you.  It does look way off, doesn't it.

I hope the TX BA-1 tastes good.  It looks like a yellow fig that gets that ugly brown, "sugar spots" on it, which seems to mean it's very good.

noss.

NICE!
Looks different from our local TX E.
I have not been too interested in our local TX E, at least the ones I have come across here.

Thx
Danny K
Marshall Tx

@noss- you are welcome

@Danny- feel free to post pics of your tree's fruit, etc.