Bordeaux fig

Ficus Burdigalensis Poit. et Turp. - Bordeaux Fig

In the 17th century, La Quintinye, gardener to Louis XIV, recommended cultivating only two varieties of white figs for the royal table. However, some purple figs deserved to be an exception.

Among them, the Bordeaux Fig, also known as Goureau or Pear-Fig, prevailed despite the nomenclatural controversies that agitated botanists and pomologists for two centuries.

The Bordeaux fig tree is distinguished by its slender habit, less bushy than that of white-fruited varieties. Its deeply lobed leaves make it recognizable from afar; upon closer inspection, some are observed to have a glabrous petiole while others are hairy.

The fruit, not abundant during the summer harvest, is generous in autumn, a preferred period for its cultivation in the Parisian climate.

Always elongated in a pear shape, the fig has a greenish skin near the stem and is purple over the rest of its surface, marked with grooves and white or yellow dots.

Its purplish flesh beneath the skin turns tawny inside, while the seeds are adorned with tawny and reddish hues. Poiteau frankly notes that its succulence divides enthusiasts, with some finding it excellent, others more reserved.

This plate is taken from Poiteau and Turpin's Traité des Arbres Fruitiers (Treatise on Fruit Trees), a fruit encyclopedia published between 1807 and 1835, a major reference for 19th-century pomological illustration.

It combines the rigor of scientific drawing with a rare artistic sensibility, characteristic of the great plates from the golden age of illustrated botany.