Verdal Longue Fig

Verdal Longue is documented in Ira Condit's fig monograph under the name Verdal, tracing to a description by the botanist Risso in 1826 under the French name "figue a fruit vert" (fig with green fruit), later described again by Sauvaigo in 1889 as Verdale or Grosse Verdale. It was imported to the United States by nurseryman John Rock from England in 1883, and was distributed for trial by California Experiment Stations, particularly in Southern California, with dooryard trees documented at Oroville, Monrovia, Riverside, San Diego, and Carlsbad; around 1930, a Carlsbad grower maintained a small commercial planting that reportedly marketed excellent figs as late as Christmas. Cuttings were also sent to Georgia, though no record of production there survives, and fruiting trees were documented in a Texas variety collection at Angleton in 1940. The 19th-century pomologist Robert Hogg called it "one of the finest figs I know," and fig historian Gustav Eisen similarly rated it among "the best figs," noting it ripens very late and, at least at one California location (Niles), required caprification. The fruit has yellowish-green skin and a striking deep red interior, with a fruity, sweet flavor some compare to Col de Dame/Coll de Damas, including hints of citrus, though with a thinner skin and less firm texture; it is a productive, single-crop, late-ripening variety, with harvest typically beginning in mid-October and continuing to the end of the season.