Fig Varieties: A Monograph - uri=ucce.ucdavis

372 Hilgardia
[Vol. 23, No. 11
Grisé
Figs medium, oblate-spherical or turbinate; color violet, tinged with green;
many figs shrivel and drop when small.........................................Bourjassotte
Apex of fruit colored uniformly.
Figs above medium to large; eye large, open; pulp hollow at
center..................................................................................................................San Piero
Figs medium; eye medium, partly closed; pulp
solid.......................................Franciscana
Common-type Figs with Skin Green or Yellow; Pulp
Amber or White
Albo (syns. Albicello, Albinillo, Bianchetta, Biancoletta, Biancolini, Blanca, Blanquita,
Dorato, D’Oro, Gentile at Bologna, Mattano, Moscadello, Zentil). Described by Porta
(1583), Gallesio (1817), Gasparrini (1845), Pasquale (1876), Roda (1881), Eisen (1901, with
figure), Tamaro (1948), and Baldini (1953); the last with illustration of leaf, breba, and
second-crop fruit.
According to Gallesio, it is one of the few varieties found along the whole coast of
Italy, but not in France or Spain. Gasparrini described Fico Albo with Fico Trojano in
parentheses, and also treated Biancolini as a distinct variety. Eisen regarded it as one of
the best Italian figs, especially well regarded in the markets of Pavia and Milan. Tamaro
described the variety as Blanca.
Tree of medium size. Leaves mostly 3-lobed; base cordate. Not fruited at Riverside,
California; resembles very much the variety Angélique, described elsewhere in this
monograph: Description is after that of Baldini.
Brebas almost spherical, with short, thick neck; stalk short; color canary yellow; pulp
white; quality good.
Second-crop figs medium, oblate-spherical, flattened at the apex; neck none stalk
medium; ribs indistinct; eye open, with rose-colored scales; skin yellow; pulp amber,
almost seedless, very sweet. Used mostly fresh; sometimes dried.
Angelina (syn. Argelina). Described and figured by Estelrich (1910). Tree well
developed, with leaves similar to those of Bordissot Blanca (Barnissotte Blanche). Figs
below medium, spherical, yellowish green; skin thick; interior white. Not a choice
variety, but commonly grown in parts of Mallorca.
Blanche (syns. Blanche d’Argenteuil, Blanche Ronde, Grosse Blanche Ronde, Blanche
Hâtive, Blanquo, Argentine, Blanche Fleur, Royale, Versailles, Blanquette and Madeleine
of some authors, Marseilles, White Marseilles, Marseillaise White, White Naples, Pocock,
Ford’s Seedling, Raby Castle, White Standard, White Smyrna, Quarteria, Vigasotte
Bianco). In 1700, Tournefort described a fig variety as La Grosse Blanche Ronde.
Garidel (1715) quoted this account, but expressed doubt that it was the same as the one
called Blanquo Communo, grown in some parts of France. Duhamel (1755) also quoted
Tournefort, and designated the variety as Figue Blanche. In his “Nouveau” work of
1809, Duhamel again quoted Tournefort, as well as Garidel, and stated that the fig
known at Paris as Figue d’Argenteuil was only a subvariety of Figue Blanche of
Provence, the differences between the two being minor, and due to