Help with ID, please

[DBJohnson]

Finally! Got a (almost) ripe fig from one of my heirloom trees--UNK Nell Johnson.

The story behind this fig is that my great-great-great-great-grandmother (great-grandmother's great-grandmother) brought a small fig plant with her when then family migrated from South Carolina to central Alabama in 1818 (the wagon train continued on to Texas, but my people settled in Alabama--what was then called Autauga county but eventually becam Chilton County). She planted it at their homestead and was eventually known for her fig preserves and pies. Cuttings from that tree ended up making the tree that grew in my great-grandmother's yard which was the mother tree for the one at my grandmother's place in Selma, Alabama. That one was planted in 1949 when they built the house (all gone now--vandals and fire). My dad got cuttings from that tree and planted two at my parents' home in Newton County, Mississippi. I took cuttings and have several going in pots and in ground here in Franklin County, VA.

This is first fig I've had ripen on any of these and it is a small one--hope it's enough to determine if this is close to something already named or if this is a unique cultivar. On the mature trees, the figs grow to about twice this size. When they are dead ripe, they have a caramel-like flavor and are like jam in the middle. Flavor is very figgy--think fig newton flavor but fresher and a bit brighter around the edges.

The predominant leaf type is the one closer to what you expect from fig leaves, but the more spear-like leaf is usually present in much smaller numbers.

Thanks in advance for your input.

[DBJohnson]

Just for the record..... The only reason I picked that tiny fig a day early was because something took the one I left yesterday to be picked today. It was low-hanging and I suspect either the raccoons or the opossums. Regardless, I have waited too long to get a fig from these trees to let this one get away. More ripening higher up, but impatience got to me.

[zone5figger]

What a nice story, how cool for you to have a family heirloom fig.
Maybe someday I'll have a great grandkid trying to guess the varieties I'm planting😊

Maybe Celeste or Celeste varient?

[zone5figger]

Sweet Diane (most likely Celeste) in my yard has a few figs on it for the first time.

[DBJohnson]

Could be. I've never tasted a Celeste before so I can't honestly compare on taste.

The leaves on that Sweet Diane are lovely!

[fignut]

I enjoyed the story of your family fig. The two most common southern figs are Celeste



and Eastern or Southern Brown Turkey.



They are very similar looking and both taste like fig candy. The branch angles on Eastern Brown Turkey are wider than on Celeste. Celeste is more upright and E. Brown Turkey more spreading.

[DBJohnson]

fignut The fruit as I remember it looks closer to the Celeste picture you posted, but the leaves look different. The tree form is definitely more upright than horizontal.

[AscPete]

Thanks for sharing the Info and photos, nice (his) story...

IMO, its a Celeste type fig, a cultivar which happens to be on my "keep" list. When Celeste figs are fully ripe they remind me of Palm Dates in sweetness and "caramel-like" flavor.

Celeste leaves...


More Celeste leaves...


And a few more...


Celeste (@ 2 - 6 o'clock)

[fignut]

These two figs are very similar and have caused a lot of confusion. They both are very sweet, dryish, and figgy - absolutely delicious. Brown Turkey will set a breba crop; Celeste might occasionally set a breba or two. If it gets hot and dry, Celeste will drop figs. As I mentioned, Celeste is more upright - but it's not a huge difference. I'll try to get measurements for you tomorrow. There is a difference in the fruit, but if you mix them up on a plate, I probably wouldn't be able tot tell them apart.

8 Southern Brown Turkey top, 3 Celeste bottom.



The Southern Brown Turkeys are a little browner, and the Celestes a little more violet - but the camera seems to pick up the difference more than the eye does.

This is an article that tried to lessen the confusion.

This is an excerpt from the article by A.J. Bullard in the Southern Fruit Fellowship newsletter (Issue #5 1989):
"It so happens that the two fig varieties most commonly grown east of the Mississippi are the two most confused...It seems Brown Turkey got the inside track with figs early on and became the Frigadere of refrigerators so to speak. Nurseries mislabeled Celeste as Brown Turkey - some by honest ignorance and some to sell Brown Turkey figs which customers called for. Some major nurseries didn't know the difference."
"Both varieties are adapted to the Southeast so why does it make any difference?"
"First as my fig Guru Paul Starnes says, don't ask a fig owner what variety he has because he doesn't know but calls it Brown Turkey or Celeste (Sugar) - usually having the varieties reversed."
...."Celeste is the most common fig grown in the Southeast and is somewhat more cold hardy than Brown Turkey....Celeste trees stood that had been hurt very little in over 40 years enduring at least one zero and one 1 degree F ...without much kill-back if any....The owner said the Celeste had never been killed back in its 40+ years but the Brown Turkey, 'got killed back to the ground every few years'. Same exposure, soil type, climate, etc...."
"Brown Turkey will bear fruit the first season after being 'leveled' on sucker growth while Celeste won't. Brown Turkey also will produce a Breba crop if the terminals aren't killed back much in addition to a main crop. Celeste almost never (Dave Ulmer) has brebas to mature....The Turkey brebas are larger than the main crop figs and much larger than Celeste. Turkey brebas are often 'lop sided' but to my taste about like the main crop. Celeste figs are more symmetrical, smaller and sweeter than Turkey."
"One ID I find useful with developing furit is that the scales around the eye of half grown and over Turkey figs are pink or red while those of comparably sized Celeste figs are green. The eye of mature Turkey figs is somewhat open while Celeste is closed and is therefore a better keeper - resisting souring better. Celeste seems to have a longer stem than Turkey but the skin color isn't a whole lot different."
As to leaf shape both are classified as 'grape' leaf .....but a common basic difference exists between the most typical leaf type of Celeste compared with Brown Turkey. Sometimes to see this difference more clearly one must examine sucker growth or new growth resulting from heading back old limbs. Celeste leaves are slightly broader and tend to have more serrations. Turkey leaves are slightly more elongated and tend to have few serrations per lobe.".......
"I find Celeste the M.V.P. of figs and an excellent stock to graft less cold hardy varieties onto to make them hardier."

[fignut]

The Branch angles on Southern Brown Turkey



are generally wider than the branch angles on Celeste.



It isn't a large difference, but it is visible.

I find the branch angles, and the fact that SBT will form a breba crop as the best way to differentiate the two. I haven't been able to tell based on scale color. First I was looking at the eye - but it is the little scales surrounding the eye. And "comparably sized" doesn't say when to look - and I haven't really been able to see the difference mentioned in the article.

[bamafig]

Most mature Celeste leaves are three lobed here. Young trees and new growth vary greatly, however.