LOUIS PHILIPPE

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus

Here again we have a very evident hybrid between some Sweet Cherry and a Sour Cherry of the Morello type in which Morello characters are most prominent. If the description and color-plates of this variety and Olivet be compared it will be found that the two cherries are nearly identical. They differ only in season of ripening and in minor tree-characters which may be best summarized by the statement that this cherry has in the tree more of the aspect of a Morello than has Olivet. It may be suspected that one or the other of the two varieties on our grounds is misnamed but the descriptions of all who have described the two show that they are very similar, if not identical. The history of Louis Philippe, long known in America but little or not at all known in Europe, throws some light on the question of its distinctness from Olivet, the origin of which is known, inasmuch as Louis Philippe seems to be the older of the two. The value of the two varieties to cherry-growers is the same and is indicated in the discussion of Olivet.

Elliott,[82] the American pomologist, imported Louis Philippe from France in 1846 but the cherry does not seem to have been known at that time in Europe and it is possible that Elliott gave it its name. For the first few years the variety was not given the recognition it deserved but, in 1862, it was recognized by the American Pomological Society by a place on its list of recommended fruits which it still holds under the name, Philippe.

LOUIS PHILLIPE

Tree vigorous, upright-spreading, open-topped; trunk and branches intermediate in thickness; branches with numerous very large, elongated, raised lenticels.

Leaves numerous, four and one-half inches long, two and one-eighth inches wide, oval to obovate, thick, leathery; upper surface dark, shiny green, smooth; lower surface olive-green, with a large, prominent midrib; apex taper-pointed; margin finely serrate, with reddish-brown glands; petiole one inch long, usually with one or two large, globose, yellowish-red, glands, variable in position.

Flowers one and one-fourth inches across, white, well distributed, mostly in threes; pedicels one inch long, thick, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals slightly obovate, entire, broad, slightly notched at the apex; stamens one-fourth inch long; pistil glabrous, equal in length to the stamens.

Fruit matures in mid-season or later; nearly one inch in diameter, roundish-ovate; cavity abrupt; suture very shallow to a mere line; apex flattened, depressed; color very dark red; dots numerous, unusually small, obscure; stem one and one-fourth inches to one and one-half inches long, adhering well to the fruit; flesh light red, with much wine-colored juice, fine-grained, tender and melting, sour at first, becoming pleasantly tart at full maturity; good in quality; stone separates readily from the flesh, small, roundish-ovate, plump; ventral suture grooved; dorsal suture with a small ridge.