Fig Varieties: A Monograph - uri=ucce.ucdavis

February, 1955] Condit: Fig Varieties
377
Nikita, Yalta, Crimea; and 102,021, from Marrakech, Morocco. In variety trials all three
of these introductions proved to be identical with Dottato.
Dottato is grown commercially in all of the fig districts south of Naples, as well as in
Sicily. Siniscalchi calls it the variety par excellence, and states that it is rightly known as
the “golden fig.” According to Ferrari, it is the one best adapted to local conditions,
both along the coast, as at Agropoli, and in the foothill valleys, such as at Cosenza.
Both Guglielmi and Pellicano give it first rank among the figs of southern Italy, and De
Rosa classes it highly for production of dried figs, as it has few seeds, sweet pulp, and
delicate, although relatively thick, skin. It has been introduced into Greece, where
Anagnostopoulos reports that trees produced and matured fruit well.
The exact time of the first introduction of Dottato into California is not known.
Italian settlers in the foothill districts of the San Joaquin Valley undoubtedly introduced
cuttings of this and other varieties for planting; large trees are still to be found on
ranches established before the middle of the past century. White Endich is the name
applied to a fig introduced into the Stockton district before 1870 and named for Mr.
Endich of that city; later it was found to be identical with Dottato. The history of the
Kadota fig and its rise to popularity has been related by Condit (1920c, 1927). Cuttings
distributed by Van Deman (1890) of the United States Department of Agriculture under
the name Dottato, were grown by the nursery firm, Twogood and Cutter, of Riverside,
about 1889. The fruit exhibited in Los Angeles in 1893 attracted considerable attention,
and created a demand for trees. In 1898, Stephen H. Taft, of Sawtelle, obtained cuttings
and labeled the variety Kadota.
The name White Pacific was given to a fig propagated by W. R. Strong and
Company, Sacramento, and described in their catalogue in 1883. It was found on the
place of a Mr. White at Penryn, hence the name; but according to Milco (1884), trees of
the same kind were “scattered now almost every place over the State,” especially
around Stockton. Lelong (1890) reported it from San Diego. Clarkadota was the
appellation coined in 1920 by a development company at Stockton, and purported to
represent trees of a superior strain. Both White Pacific and Clarkadota have proved to
be identical with Dottato when trees are grown side by side in the same orchard. P.I.
No. 58,643 was introduced from Padua, Italy, as Dottato. It was grown and tested at
the California stations, and was reported to be the best white fig fruited at Pomona in
1903, going through fog and rain without souring. Woodard (1938) reported that in
Georgia the Kadota was the sweetest fig under test, and of superior quality, but that
trees were more subject to cold injury than those of Celeste (Malta). In 1948, a few
Kadota trees were found near Diamond Springs, Virginia.
Dottato is variously reported as a one-crop or a two-crop variety, the number of
crops depending upon the locality where grown. For example, at Riverside and in the
coastal districts of southern California the trees seldom mature perfect brebas; at
Fresno, where the day and night temperatures of spring and early summer are much
higher, a good breba crop is produced.