Ficus carica 'Dauphine' - Violette Dauphine Fig

The Dauphine fig also known as the Grise de Tarascon is a slightly flattened, large fruited variety. The fruits are a violet-dark blue colour with a slight velvety grey covering. The Violette Dauphine Fig is self-fertile and very hardy. It is quite vigorous in growth. The fig is a well known fruit, cultivated since ancient times and grows wild in dry and sunny areas. It is mostly cultivated around the world for its fruits but it is also a great architectural plant with very ornamental leaves, plus the foliage turns yellowish in the Autumn. After their fall, the fruits often remain on the bare branches. We have different leaf forms, deeply lobed to slightly lobed. Figs can be found in continental climates with hot summers as far north as Hungary and Moravia, and can be harvested up to four times per year. Thousands of cultivars, most named, have been developed as human migration brought the fig to many places outside its natural range. Two crops of figs are potentially produced each year, but in UK conditions, it is safer to use varieties with one crop as the first crop would often be damaged by Spring frosts. Most common figs have all female flowers that do not need pollination; the fruit develops through parthenocarpic means, but there are varieties which requires the fig wasp for pollinisation (this insect usually cannot live in UK climate, this is why parthenocarpic varieties have to be used here to have fruits).

The intended main use of this plant is to grow food for human consumption. We always recommend further research to learn the different ways in which the food source can be prepared and consumed.