AI Overview
In fig cultivation, important names span across ancient philosophers who documented the fruit’s biology, missionaries who spread it to new continents, and modern breeders who developed new cultivars.
Historical figures and pioneers
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Aristotle and Theophrastus (4th century BC): The ancient Greeks were prolific fig cultivators. Aristotle described the mutualistic relationship between the fig tree and the fig wasp, while his student Theophrastus detailed how farmers used wild caprifigs to pollinate cultivated trees.
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Pliny the Elder (1st century AD): The Roman naturalist extensively documented figs in his Natural History, mentioning 29 varieties of the fruit known at the time.
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Spanish Missionaries (1769): These missionaries brought the ‘Mission’ fig cultivar to California, a variety still popular today for its self-pollinating (parthenocarpic) nature, which allowed it to thrive without the fig wasp.
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G. P. Rixford (1880): A pioneer of the California fig industry, Rixford was responsible for first bringing true Smyrna figs from Turkey to California.
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Ira J. Condit and William B. Storey (early 20th century): Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, who launched a formal fig breeding program. Condit, known as the “High Priest of the Fig,” and Storey tested thousands of seedlings.
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Ed O’Rourke (1950s–1960s): A professor at Louisiana State University (LSU) who initiated a fig breeding program to create cultivars adapted to the humid, subtropical Gulf South region. Several varieties were released decades later from his work, including LSU Purple and LSU Gold.
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Charlie Johnson and Jimmy Budro (1990s): Horticulturists at the LSU AgCenter who revived O’Rourke’s work and brought his elite fig selections to market, including the well-known LSU varieties.
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James Doyle and Louise Ferguson (1989): These researchers restarted the University of California fig breeding program after it was closed in the 1980s. They used the germplasm from Condit and Storey to release new varieties like ‘Sierra’ and ‘Sequoia’.
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Montserrat Pons: The author of The Fig Trees of the Balearic Islands, who documented and preserved many localized fig varieties from the region.
Modern experts and breeders
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Michael Polozola and Jason Stagg: Modern-day specialists at the LSU AgCenter who have taken up the mantle of preserving and promoting the university’s fig cultivars, making them more accessible to the public.
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Francesco Omezzolli: A fig expert who named the localized Italian variety ‘Verdolino’.
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Siro Petracchi: A commercial grower from Tuscany who popularized several Italian fig varieties, including ‘Albo’ and a version of ‘Paradiso’.
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Sergio Carlini: A fig and grapevine scholar who introduced the ‘Negretta’ variety, a wild seedling found in Italy.
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Denny McGaughy: The breeder responsible for creating the ‘Little Ruby’ fig, a seedling of the popular ‘Hardy Chicago’.
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Peter Lee: A fig hobbyist from New Jersey who introduced an unknown Spanish fig variety to the United States.
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Nyree Zerega and Elliot M. Gardner: Plant biologists at Northwestern University who have conducted significant research into the evolution and genetic diversity of figs.