Hey Folks,

I just had a friend introduce me to his grandapa and his backyard fig tree. He said it was given to him as a "Jerusalem Red" fig. It's evidently pretty cold hardy because it got huge in his backyard in Western NC - you can get an idea as to the tree's former glory by looking at the huge area of stumps it left behind. He says they cut it because it was too tall to get anymore figs from! You can see the two larger sprouts and hundreds of suckers coming up from the roots. Does anyone know any of the specs of this variety and what any possible synonyms might be? I wont know exactly what the leaves or figs look like until the spring/summer, but I'll post 'em when I find out. Got a goodly amount cuttings to root!

 

Thanks,

Josh

Red Israel, Red Palestine.

I will be interested to see pictures of the fruit this coming season!

Thanks Lewi,

Dev - if I get fruit from the cuttings, I definitely will (if not, I'll try to visit this tree again.)

Wow! It took me a moment to see them. I thought they were rocks used to encircle the small tree.

Yeah! I would've loved to see the tree in its glory.

I did the same Arachyd, those are some powerful roots I bet.

Yeah, if I like the tree enough, I might come and clip some of those several hundred suckers that you can see coming up for next winter.

Well, as a bit of an update - here's the fruit and leaves. It doesn't look like Israel red to me. Celeste?

Look like it...

The leaves do not look Celeste to me.

The plot thickens... anybody else have input, or is this an Unk?

I should probably add that this sucker has been in their backyard for at least 40 years.

Please check out the link below for what I found out about the leaf and shape of my "Celeste" fig tree ID.  

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/franken-black-mission-tree-8662872?pid=1297285930

It has five lobe leaf, as well as the link in it.  

I recall a comment by another poster here about the fig name thing...Here it is:

"What is in a name?  A fig by any other name is not what you believe it is (or what it seems to be)".  Not sure it is exactly the words, but have fun.