I am not OP; I am cross-posting for visibility.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/47649355

I recently moved to a house with a rather overgrown fig. Over winter I pruned it back to a manageable size and since then it's regrown a lot of branches and new figs. Some leaves are 3 lobes and some are 5. The ripest fig is getting purple on the bottom and is quite fat. If the fig fly didn't get it first (I have it bagged now) I think it should be ready in a week or two. I don't know a thing about the varieties except the names, not what their trees look like. I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area so a very mild climate. Any help, thanks!

My two cents as someone who’s started delving into the diversity of apple varieties:

As far as I know, there’s even less of a systematic classification for figs than there is for apples. Identifying a variety based on its characteristics is therefore probably even harder than it is with an unknown apple tree.

I’d try to find out which figs are or were commonly grown in your area, or which ones are popular. Often (at least with apples), most trees belong to a handful of popular and widespread varieties.