White fig
Under the name of White or Yellow fig several clone variations of the white fruit sort are know in Kakhetia, the best among which is the large fruit variation presently described.
It is common in the high and middle Kakhetia and in the Transalazan district.
In low Kakhetia another variation is cultivated, namely the small fruit one.
The tree
The tree of the White fig has not a very strong growth, beingmostly met in the form of a bush consisting of several trunks.
Annual growth is rather swift in the young age but it slows greatly when bearing begins.
Cenerally the top of the White fig tree is very loose, with an irregular dichotomy division.
Root suckers are characteristic for this sort.
The tree is not longliving, becoming decadent very soon and requiring frequent rejuvenation.
It is very hardy to cold; at the temperature of -14° -16° only the young immature wood suffers.
The leaf is very large, fleshy, strongly veined, threelobed, the sinuosities being shallow so that the edge seems wavy. Entire leaves are quite unfrequent.
The lower surface of the leaf is ashy-green, the upper one dark-green.
Fruit
The White fig gives two crops yearly.
Fruits of the first crop develop soon after the beginning of vegetation and swiftly grow large.
The mature tree bears no great quantity of them, not more than 200-300.
These large spring fruits of the White fig correspond to the spring fruits of caprifigs, the profigs, and in Georgian are called „Guda“, in America their corresponding term being „Breba”.
They remain on the treeswithout ripening from April till the 20-25 of Juni and becom mature from July the 10th till July the 20th. Maturation is not constantly equal through all years; sometimes all fruit ripens and gets edible, while during other years some of the fruits ripen only partly or locally, being consequently of a low quality.
The blossom Clusters developing the Cuda fruits, consist of female flowers among which some few longstyled male flowers, stamens, with two lentiform pollen sacks are scattered.
Good climate conditions favour the development of normal male flowers with active pollen.
When Guda – fruits develop normally, the seeds are produced through selffertilization or by apogamic ways and are fertile.
Guda-fruits are peculiar in appearabce, ribbed, with a long neck and a thick, friable, white mass under the skin, pale-yellow-greenish in colour.
Fruits of the second crop set when those of the first one attain the dimensions of a wallnut. They develop on present season shoots in the Axils of stems of first crop fruits, and get as large as a hazelnut when the latter ripen. After the first crop is picked they grow swiftly, in 20-25 days attain their normal size and in their turn begin gradually to ripen.
Fruits develop without caprificatin, either though selffertilization or parthenocarpy.
The skin is thin, separating easily from the pulp when fully ripe.
The colour is yellow, veined green, if over mature dark-yellow.
Summer fruits contain many seeds which are not greatly fertile and mostly parthenocarpic.
The White fig yields its main crop in summer.
Fruits are excellent in flavor. They are used fresh for table and dessert, or serve for the drying industry.
According to the high quality of its fruits, the White fig is considered as one of the best aboriginal sorts in Kakhetia.
source
საქართველოს კულტურული ფლორის ატლასი = Атлас культурной флоры Грузии = Atlas for the cultivated Flora of Georgia / ნ. ხომეზურიშვილი და ელ. ერისთავი ; საქართველოს სსრ მიწსახკომი. ლ.პ. ბერიას სახელ. სას.-სამ. ინსტიტუტი. - თბილისი : ტექნიკა და შრომა, 1939-1951. - 30 სმ[MFN: 51572] თემატიკა: - საქართველოს კულტურული ფლორის ატლასები; ტ. 2 : საქართველოს სამრეწველო ხილის ჯიშები = Промышленные сорта плодов Грузии = Varietes of commercial Georgian Fruits. - 1941. - 217, LIV გვ. : ილ., 71 ჩართ. ფურც. ფერ. ილ.. - დამატებითი თავფურცელი რუსულ, ინგლისურ ენებზე. - ტექსტი ქართულ, რუსულ, ინგლისურ ენებზე. - 73მ., ყდა 7მ., 2500ც.[MFN: 52879] UDC: 634.1/7:631.526.32 თემატიკა: - ხილის ჯიშები საქართველოში;
