North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Doreen Howard" <doreenh@ticon.net>]

This is from the ARS News Service
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/np/fnrb

 Fabulous Figs Featured in Orchard Extravaganza

A special orchard in Northern California is home to more than 100 different
kinds of figs from around the globe. This fig genebank ranks as one of the
world's largest living assortments of edible figs. Most are specialty
varieties of Ficus carica. The genebank ensures that the genes of these figs
and their exotic, rare, and oddball botanic cousins are safeguarded for our
future.

The collection is part of what's formally known as the ARS National Clonal
Germplasm Repository for Fruit and Nut Crops, headquartered at Davis, Calif.
In addition to familiar, commercially grown figs that thrive in warm, dry
climates, the repository also includes heirloom varieties and unnamed
specimens known only by numbers.

Among the most distinctive figs at the genebank: Violette de Bordeaux, which
offers purple skin, brilliant-red flesh, and a taste reminiscent of superb
raspberry jam; and Panachée, which bears beautiful, yellow-skinned,
green-striped fruit with a delicate strawberry flavor.

Fig breeders and researchers-along with nursery managers interested in
finding figs suitable for their climates and customers-are the primary users
of the collection. Figs are high in fiber and are a good source of several
essential minerals including magnesium, calcium, and potassium.

For more information, contact Charles J. Simon, (530) 752-6504, USDA-ARS
National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Fruit and Nut Crops, Davis, CA