The Mission fig (also known as Black Mission or ''Franciscana'') is a popular variety of the edible

fig The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...

(''Ficus carica''). It was first introduced to the United States in 1768 when

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

planted it in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. It was also planted in the subsequent missions that the Franciscans established up the

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

coast. Gustav Eisen writes, "The early padres and missionaries in the Pacific coast States cultivated no other variety of fig". It later became the main commercial variety planted throughout

. The Mission fig was later surpassed by the Sari Lop fig (also known as Calimyrna) as the most popular commercial fig variety grown in California.Fig Varieties: A Monograph. Ira Condit, 1955
/ref> The Mission fig is a high quality fig variety. It produces both a

breba A breba (or more commonly ''breva'' in Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish c ...

and main crop, and is considered an everbearing variety when planted in the right climate. The breba crop is large. The main crop is medium-sized. It is a dark skinned fig with a strawberry colored interior. The skin of the fruit often cracks when it is ripe. The tree is long lived and grows to be quite large. It is sensitive to frost. Mission fig trees are almost always infected with Fig mosaic virus, which can affect the color and shape of leaves, but usually does not affect fruit production. It is still considered one of the highest quality figs that can be grown in

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

zones 9 and up in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

References

{{Moraceae-stub

See also

References