LATE DUKE

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus

Late Duke is a variant of the well-known May Duke, ripening from two weeks to a month later. The size, color, flavor and season of the fruit all commend it, as do the vigor, health and fruitfulness of the trees. The cherries are not quite as sweet as those of May Duke, a little more marbled in color of skin and ripen through a longer season. The trees are readily told from those of the earlier Duke, being more open and spreading, scanter of foliage, with slender branches and with fruit more thickly clustered along the branchlets. Ripening in a season when hybrid varieties are gone or rapidly going, Late Duke is a valuable acquisition in the home orchard and for nearby markets to which tender-fleshed varieties can be shipped. If those who want late cherries will plant this variety on a northern slope, against a northern wall or where in any way shaded or in a cool soil, these delicious cherries can be had until well toward August. The tree is hardy and its blossoming-time is late so that the variety is well adapted to northern latitudes.

The origin of this variety is unknown. In 1797, Christ mentions "a true English cherry" which is probably Late Duke. At least Oberdieck, in 1861, states that the true English cherry is identical with the Late Duke, or Anglaise Tardive. In 1823, Late Duke was introduced into England by the London Horticultural Society from M. Vilmorin, of Paris, under the name Anglaise Tardive. Though the French name of this variety seems to indicate an English origin, the old English writers were not aware of any cherry of this kind being in existence in England previous to its introduction by the Horticultural Society. Because of the close resemblance of Late Duke to May Duke it has often been confused with that sort and by some writers was supposed to be a late strain of May Duke. The American Pomological Society listed Late Duke in its fruit catalog in 1862.

LATE DUKE

Tree vigorous, upright-spreading, becoming spreading at maturity, open-topped, productive; trunk and branches slender; branches brown overlaid with dark ash-gray, with numerous small lenticels; branchlets slender, short, reddish-brown, with ash-gray scarf-skin, with numerous conspicuous, small, raised lenticels.

Leaves numerous, three inches long, one and three-fourths inches wide, folded upward, obovate, thick; upper surface very dark green, smooth; lower surface light green, with a few scattering hairs; apex abruptly pointed; margin doubly crenate, with small, dark glands; petiole one inch long, lightly tinged with red, grooved and somewhat hairy on the upper surface, glandless or with one or two small, reniform, greenish glands, usually at the base of the blade.

Buds small, short, obtuse or conical, plump, free, arranged singly and in clusters; leaf-scars prominent; season of bloom late; flowers white, one inch across; borne in numerous, dense clusters, in twos, threes and fours; pedicels one inch long, slender, glabrous, green; calyx-tube reddish, campanulate; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, serrate, reflexed; petals roundish, entire, almost sessile; filaments one-fourth inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.

Fruit matures very late; one inch in diameter, blunt-cordate, somewhat compressed; cavity wide; suture shallow; color dark red; stem slender, one and one-half inches to two inches long, deeply inserted; flesh amber-colored, with abundant juice, tender, rich, sprightly subacid; stone semi-clinging, medium to large, roundish-ovate, compressed.