White Texas Everbearing, which I grew from a cutting obtained from the gentleman who supplied Davis with their source of WTE, is identical with Kadota. WTE was described aa a possible bud sport of Celeste, but in my opinion that is at all likely. In all characters, the fig is virtually identical to Kadota, which I have from various sources under the names of Kadota, WTE, Banana, and Binella. If you have a true Kadota, then you have WTE.

Correction: In my opinion, it is not at all likely that WTE is a bud sport of Celeste. Following is a picture contrasting Celeste with WTE and a picture of my different cultivars that I believe are Dotatto (Kadota).

Not only its very good presentation. Its yummy too. Thanks Mtnman.

What a neat comparison. Great photo Mountainman. I agreed with you some time ago on WTE being Kadota. I kept my Kadota (in-ground tree) and donated my WTE to a close friend. Now we both have Kadotas! What camera did you use for the nice pic?

mountainman,
great responses. Thank you. Those comparison photos really tell the story. Do you have any info on the Celeste orchard. Is it safe to say that WTE is not a seedling of Celeste but rather a mix up in the orchard?
mrhappy

MrHappy, I am quite convinced,based on the fig characters, leaves, placement of the figs (they tend to bear in clusters), leaves, and date that the figs ripen that WTE is Kadota or an indistinguishable close relative. However, I suppose that the only way to know if the cultivars are truly identical would be to do a DNA analysis. It would be very interesting if one could trace the trail of all of these diversely named, but apparently identical cultivars. I don't know what orchard in central Texas the mother tree of WTE was propagated from, but I believe that the mother tree (that my friend told me was no longer living) was at Aldrich's Nursery, which I think is out of business, although I don't know that for a fact. Binella comes straight from Italy. Banana reportedly came from a tree that grew on the gulf coast of Texas since the early 1900's in Seadrift, Texas. Dotatto (another name for Kadota) was supposedly described almost 2000 years ago by Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist who perished in the eruption of Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii. Great to hear from you, Leon! My camera is an Olympus C765 Zoom. I've had it for about 4 years. It takes great pictures, although the guy taking the pictures could use some work on his photographic techniques!

Aldrich went bankrupt many years ago, but was bought by another couple. As of about 3 years ago, they were still in business. The WTE tree is long-gone and the new owners didn't know what I was talking about when asked I about it.

~james