Desert King

Desert King is a chance seedling found growing near Madera, California, sometime around 1920-1930 — it was not deliberately bred for any particular climate. Cuttings were propagated starting around 1930 by Sisto Pedrini of the Western Evergreen Company, who planted them at Los Altos and San Francisco; the resulting trees fruited so well that hundreds were distributed throughout the Pacific Coast states by the King Fig Plantation of San Francisco. It is a San Pedro-type fig, meaning it reliably produces a strong, self-fertile breba crop (fruit on the previous year's wood) without needing pollination, but its main crop generally requires caprification to ripen properly in most climates — in cool coastal areas, some main-crop fruit can mature without pollination through natural parthenocarpy. Despite its California origin, Desert King became renowned specifically for its performance in the Pacific Northwest and other cool-summer regions, since its exceptionally reliable, heavy breba crop ripens in mid-summer even where a main crop of most other varieties would struggle to mature before cold weather sets in. The fruit is large, with dark green to yellowish-green skin (sometimes minutely white-spotted) and strawberry-red to pink flesh. It withstands late spring frosts better than most other varieties and is widely considered the top fig choice for the Pacific Northwest.