Fig varieties: a monograph

The common fig occurs in a great number of varieties, which have evolved mainly as natural seedlings during the many centuries in which this fruit has been under cultivation. As early as the fourth century B.C., (Theophrastus (1916)) reported that most good fruits, including the fig, had received names. Ulysses, the hero of the Odyssey, obtained from his father twenty fig trees, all with names. In the first century of the Christian Era, (Pliny (1855)) listed twenty-nine varieties, with the localities in which they were grown, and quoted Cato, who also had given names to several varieties. Pliny further stated: “Since his [Cato’s] day there have been so many names and kinds come up, that even on taking this subject into consideration, it must be apparent to everyone how great are the changes which have taken place in civilized life.”