Fruit remarkably large,—often measuring eight inches in depth, seven inches in diameter, and weighing four or five pounds; skin deep-purple, with occasional stripes of green about the stem; plant hardy and stocky.
The American Large Purple is more generally cultivated in this country than any other variety. The plants produce two (and rarely three) fruits; but the first formed are invariably the best developed.
It is similar to, if not identical with, the Round Purple of English and French authors.
Chinese Long White. Vil.
Quite distinct from the Common White or the Purple. Plant of low growth, with comparatively pale foliage; fruit white, eight or nine inches long, two inches and a half in diameter, and often more or less curved, particularly when the end is in contact with the ground.
It is later than the White or Purple varieties, and nearly of the season of the Scarlet-fruited. To obtain the fruit in full perfection, the plants must be started in a hot-bed.
Guadaloupe Striped. Vil.
Fruit nearly ovoid, smaller than the Round or Long Purple; skin white, streaked and variegated with red.
Long Purple. Trans.
The plants of this variety are of the height of the Round Purple, but are subject to some variation in the color of the branches and in the production of spines; flowers large, purple, with a spiny calyx; the fruit is oblong, somewhat club-shaped, six or eight inches in length, sometimes straight, but often slightly bent; at maturity, the skin is generally deep-purple, but the color varies much more than the Large Round; it is sometimes pale-purple, slightly striped, sometimes variegated with longitudinal, yellowish stripes, and always more deeply colored on the exposed side.