Fig Varieties: A Monograph - uri=ucce.ucdavis

February, 1955] Condit: Fig Varieties
457
at Paso Robles, a very desirable variety; at Tulare, ranked first with Hirta du Japon so
far as bearing was concerned; at Pomona, Hirta du Japon was a heavy producer in 1892,
but in 1895 was utterly worthless, as the figs soured and rotted on the tree. In 1894,
Hansen reported Pastilière as the best black fig at the Foothill station. P.I. No. 18,888 of
the Chiswick collection was labeled Pastilière. According to notes taken at Chico in
September, 1921, fruits of this introduction were small, purplish black, and of no
particular value, either fresh or dried. A commercial planting of Pastilière, consisting of
about eighty trees, was maintained for several years at the Point Loma homestead, San
Diego. The crops of fresh figs during the five-year period, 1921 to 1925, varied from
3,909 to 8,580 pounds, obtained from the single crop ripening in August. Another small
planting was made at Vacaville, but there the variety was found to be inferior to
Mission (Franciscana).
According to Simon-Louis Frères (1895), Hirta is a Japanese variety, introduced into
France by M. de Siebold. Barron described it in 1891 as one of Rivers Brothers’
introductions. Trabut (1904) stated that it had been brought only recently into Algeria.
In California, it was described by Eisen in 1888 as “a fruit covered with a downy fuzz.”
In 1901, he described it as a purple fig, with “skin smooth, but not waxy; not downy,
even when magnified,” and added that there was reported to be another Hirta with
downy fruit, also from Japan. Colby (1894) gave analyses of the fruit from Tulare
County. Shinn (1903, 1915) stated that Hirta du Japon is a dark-purple fig, of high
quality for home gardens. Hirta du Japon, obtained in 1920 from J. C. Shinn, Niles, has
proved to be identical with Pastilière in variety tests. It was included in the Chiswick
collection from England as P.I. No. 18,857.
Various accounts report that the tree of Pastilière is of slow, compact growth, so that
it might be called a dwarf tree. G. S. (1869) stated that both tree and leaves were
ill-shaped, and that most of the fruit dropped off, imperfect. At Riverside, two trees of
Pastilière and one of Hirta, all planted in 1928, have been decidedly dwarf in habit of
growth. Furthermore, both trunk and branches show prominent nodal swellings
characteristic of this and of certain other varieties. (Plate 5.)
Terminal buds are plump, short, and green in color, tinged with brown. Leaves
below medium to small, mostly 3-lobed, but many nonlobed; upper sinuses shallow,
basal sinuses shallow and broad; base sometimes truncate; surface slightly glossy;
margins coarsely serrate. The following description is based mainly on fruit produced
by Pastilière trees obtained in 1920 from the California Nursery Company, Niles.
Brebas none, or rare. Second crop abundant. Figs medium, 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 inches in
length and about the same in diameter, turbinate or oblate; weight of individual fruits
from 27 to 55 grams; neck absent, or when present, short and thick; stalk purple, thick,
sometimes prominently enlarged toward the apex, up to 1 inch in length, loosely
attached to the twig, so that figs seldom dry on the tree, but drop when mature; ribs
narrow, slightly raised, conspicuous on the immature fruit because of earlier coloration
than body; eye large, open, scales purple, with scarious margins; surface dull, with very
conspicuous, pruinose bloom, thickly studded with prominent, harsh hairs