Here are the pics from a couple of weeks ago of my Brother's tree from JFE...

Looks mighty familiar lol. Well my tree came apparently from ebay, and now I suspect that it originated from jfe...

I reached out to JFE via email and will update everyone if I hear anything back.

Good luck.  I agree, does not look like BM leaves.

Wow!  You guys crack me up!  Did you guys read all the comments from beginning to the end?  Did you look at the leaves posted by KK?

Lol that's funny. My reason for not thinking its BM is the lack of spade and three lobed leaves shown in pictures. As long as we are comparing UC Davis specimen.

I have two from JF&E and the leaves look VERY much like the ones KK posted.

The JF&E is not UCDavis black Madeira in my opinion.  You have to ask yourself how they could produce enough plants for retail sale when it is hard enough getting cuttings and then getting them to a mature enough size so you can produce more cuttings.  If they bought cuttings on ebay for top dollar they would not just turn around and sell a successfully rooted cutting at a low price.  If they are using tissue culture it still takes time to produce a plant.  It's a relatively short period of time that has passed that this has become a popular variety to have.  

Ok I have an update. Brandy at JF&E contacted me today in repsonse to my email. She was extremely nice and very upset about the mix up. She provided me a copy of her USDA receipt from 2008, to show the authenticity of their Black Madeira. She also provided a picture of their mother plant:



There were also two pictures of child plants:





The pictures she provided look exactly like Black Madeira. Brandy was also very insistent that JF&E has a strong "true to name" gaurantee. I told her my Brother's tree was healthy, so no need for a refund, but that I would like to purchase another true Black Madeira. She insisted that I not pay since I did not get the correct variety.

Mistakes happen. Sometimes cuttings get dropped, swapped, confused, etc. The important thing is once realized, the seller makes good.

Two important things to note:
1) JF&E appears to have a true Black Madeira UCD
2) There was a mixup with at least a couple of their trees
3) They are willing to ensure their customers are happy

I will report back when I receive the replacement tree next week.

Dennis, glad you are having fun and laughing! :)

Keith posted photos of various leaf shapes but not a description/story behind that photo.  It's definitely hard to say anything for sure just based on leaf shape but apparent discrepancies should not be ignored.  I mostly have spade and 3 lobe leaves on the three BM trees I have in ground (as well as the two Figo Preto).  The leaves posted by Nick in post #26 are consistently different than what we have come to expect for BM.  I think keeping an open mind is good but I think it is good to have an open discussion of observations.

I have had my fair share of leaf shape surprises of other varieties.  One friend who is growing a tree acquired from me mentioned recently that the leaf shape is different this year than last.  I started a thread last year asking for input on ideas of things that might affect leaf shape.  Essentially no progress was made with that discussion.

Nick, thanks for the update.  Good to hear that JF&E takes a great approach on the true to name guarantee.

Harvey, at the risk of taking this thread a bit off topic my CdDN cutting rooted in Winter 2014 had spade (single lobed) leaves all during its first season and at the beginning of this season. Within the past month it transitioned to 5 lobed leaves characteristic of a Col de Dame.  I've never heard of UCD Black Madeira doing this this and haven't observed it in my own tree (though very early on there does seem to be a transition from single lobed to three-lobed leaves).  Then again, it's hard to totally rule out at this juncture that there is something about the way JF&E is propagating their trees that causes leaf morphology to change.  I'll believe it when I see it.  It will be interesting to see what the fruit looks like from the JF&E trees.

Steve, that's the sort of thing I was talking about.  Still, based on Phil's comments at http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1285126587&postcount=4 I'd say the odds are against it just being a change in leaf shape.

Update on my Black Madeira Mystery
The Black Madiera that I got from JF & E has been confirmed not to be an actual Black Madeira.
I wrote them with my inquiry and sent them some pictures and Brandy graciously and sadly confirmed my suspicions.
At the moment we don't know what tree this imposter fig is but, at least its leaves don't look like any of my Brown Turkey's so, I'll keep it and pet it until it bears something tangible. :)
They are working on making this right so, I'm willing to be patient.

Mistakes happen and some vendors would rather fight than make good.

Glad JF& E is at least trying to make good.

Fig collecting is not for the easily dismayed.

I've emailed them also with pictures of my 2 I bought from them. Will update on response to the situation. I should note it's my first mix up with them in over 4 years and close to a thousand dollars spent at their nursery.

This goes out to all the people that have bought Black Madeira figs from our nursery Just Fruits and Exotics. We would like to apologize for the mix up with the Black Madeira figs last year. It is our policy to only sell true to name fruit trees and our reputation relies on it. We have contacted all of the people that received figs from us that we were able to locate, to offer refunds. If there are any we missed, please contact us so that we can rectify the problem. We have been selling fruit trees for over 37 years and have a good track record for getting it right. When we don’t get it right we own up to it and work to make it right. We’d like to thank all the people that have made positive comments on this thread about us. We hope to serve you in the future.

Thanks Brandy!   A real class act!

Just F & E is a great source for plants, very trustworthy and honest. Just be happy your plants did not come from one of the infamous nurseries in Georgia. I have received plants/trees that never came out of dormancy(dead) or if they did, I had no clue of their true identity. Their policies for refunds or replacements cost more than if you purchased locally and the nursery knows most buyers will chalk up the loss.

Is anyone here who can share me a BM or sell it to me in a lower price?

Is there any update on how's the fruit from the JFE 'black madeira' looks like?was it a B.madeira but with leaves morphology from 1-3 lobes into 5 lobes?