Tuesday 10 January 2017

Cape White fig tree [Blanche or White Marseilles]


Yet another addition to the forest of figs in pots. A nice healthy specimen of a Cape White fig..

Properly known elsewhere as a Marseillaise. Or "testicles of the pope"!

Recommended for growing in pots and for drying.


Update 2017/01/16:

Description from "The Fig" by Ira Condit (1947):

"Marseilles (White Marseilles, Lemon). Marseilles is probably of French origin. It is illustrated in color by Brookshaw (1812) from fruit grown in the garden of the Episcopal Palace at Lambeth, England. In England the tree grows well in pots or as an outdoor standard and bears both a first and second crop. The following three varieties were included in the Chiswick collection and proved to be identical to Marseilles: Figuier Blanche No. 18904, Vigassotte Bianco No. 18864, and Quarteria No. 18866. It is of no commercial value in California.


Breba crop small; figs medium, turbinate with short, thick neck and short stalk; eye medium, open; flecks small, green; color yellowish green; pulp white; seeds large, conspicuous. Figs of second crop much the same as brebas; spherical to oblate, without neck; stalk slender up to Y* inch long; quality fair."

Update 2017/01/19:



Moved to a 45cm pot. The smaller pot went to the Black Toulouse.


Update 2017/02/07:

Looks like a mystery has been solved. We've had a fig tree in the garden for 25 years or so. It used to bear reasonably well, then got crowded out by a pecan tree and a mulberry, plus fence and compost heap and gate.

For whatever reason, this year it's producing, and given my recent enthusiasm for figs, it's going to be subject to "renovation". There's some accessible fruit, and today I noticed one ripe fig:


From what I can make out, it's a Cape White. So...

Update 2017/05/29:

No, it's not. The shape and colour of the fig, and the shape of the leaf make this a Calimyrna of some sort. Which explains why it was able to generate a seedling?

This is getting quite interesting....


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